Too Late
by orchidluv
Summary: Jake pleaded with Bella just a bit too long when she was leaving for Italy, resulting in Edward's successful suicide. Alice freaks out.
1. Too Late

**As always: DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction using characters from the Twilight world, which is trademarked by Stephenie Meyer. I do not claim ownership of the characters or the world that I'm playing with. This is a work of my twisted imagination and is not purported or believed to be part of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight canon. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I am not profiting financially from the creation or publication of this story or any of the others that I post.**

 **Warnings:**

 **Character deaths**

 **Rated M**

 **You tell me if you want me to continue this, otherwise, it's a one shot!**

 **Leave a review please!**

The black mercedes idled in the center of the street in the middle of the night as Jake practically shoved his whole torso through the passenger side window.

"Please, Bella." His whisper was tortured as he dragged his knuckles over her cheek, simultaneously wiping a tear away.

"Jake." She whispered as thin pale fingers wrapped around his thick wrist, pulling his hand from her face. "Please, I can't let Edward kill himself." She barely got the words out between her throat tightening up and a menacing growl erupted from Jacob's lips.

Scoffing, Jake pushed away from the window but kept his hands braced on the frame so the pixie bitch wouldn't take off before he was done vying for Bella's attention. "If he wasn't such a dramatic asshole…" He started but changed tactics. "He left you, Bella. He deserted you in the middle of the woods. Sam Uley had to search for you in the middle of the night. We were all afraid you were dead. Do you know what that put your father through?"

He heard his brothers behind him across the street from Charlie's house. They were sensitive to their future alpha's emotions and right now they were running high. The pack stayed close, within eavesdropping distance in order to protect if need be. He would never get it, that she only wanted to be his friend. Nothing more. She didn't want to be with Edward either but this pull Jake seemed to think he had over her was getting old.

Bella narrowed her eyes on her best friend before shooting Alice a skeptical look from where she sat in the driver's seat. "I know what he did and I know why he did it. It doesn't matter if he loves me or not." She spat, continuing on as if Alice didn't let loose a horrified gasp. "I'm not going to let him kill himself over a lie." She was pissed off too, that Rosalie had told Edward that she was dead after going cliff diving with her friends. The icy blonde had never liked Bella but she didn't realize she would be so quick to sentence her beloved brother to death. Even if him committing suicide over her made no sense to Bella. He didn't even love her.

Dents formed in the thick plastic and metal under Jake's hands as his temper rose. "Let him. He should have died a hundred fucking years ago." He spat right back, venom lacing his words.

Yanking the car door opened, he tore the seatbelt from Bella easily and pulled her out of the car even as Alice jumped out with a shocked yell and raced around the back to stop him. Embry and Sam stalked out of the woods in their human forms as the rest of the pack stayed sentry behind the trees.

"Leave her be, Jacob Black! We need to go Bella. Come on! He's going to die if we don't hurry!" Alice pleaded, her words shaking as she reached toward her once best friend but Jake twirled his human friend out of the vampire's grasp with a glare.

Bella was dizzy as she tried to get her eyes to focus on Alice. "Do we even have time?" She asked aloud but the noise was drowned out by Jake.

"Don't you dare touch her." He growled as he stepped back between Sam and Embry, cradling a speechless Bella in his arms. She was thankful Charlie's house was at the end of their dead end road and that her father was working the graveyard shift or they'd be making a spectacle right about now.

Placing tiny marble hands on her slim hips, Alice glared right back, not intimidated in the least by the mangy beast. "And just what gives you the right to tell her what to do? To toss her around like a ragdoll?" She demanded of him with her bell like voice. The slight wind ruffled her hair, sending her sickeningly sweet scent toward the agitated wolves.

Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Jake looked down at the tiny vampire. He knew she packed more of a punch than she looked like she could but he still wasn't scared of her in the least. "Don't give me that bullshit, Cullen. You lot force her to do whatever you want. Wear this, do that. 'Oh my God, Bella! Edward's going to die if we don't leave _right this minute_!'." Jake mocked in a high pitched squeaky voice that had Embry biting his lip and Paul huffing from the trees, amused. "If he dies, good on him. One less bloodsucking tick in the world. Go save him yourself, bitch."

Bella finally gained her wits about her and wiggled to get out of Jake's suffocating grip. Reluctantly he eased her feet to the pavement but kept a large hand wrapped around her upper arm, to which she glared but let happen.

"Look, if I can save him, I need to. I need to try, Jake. You know I'm not getting back together with him. He messed me up. But I can't let him kill himself." She said passionately, not letting his angry features sway her.

A frustrated noise left Alice's ruby red lips. "Not getting back together with him? Are you serious right now? You're mates!"

A short, unimpressed laugh left Bella's lips as she turned to face her former best friend. "No, we're not mates. He wouldn't have been able to leave me if we were. He would feel that I'm not dead, if we were. He's a child throwing a temper tantrum because he didn't get his way." She paused as she watched Alice's pitch black eyes go in and out of focus as she had a vision before she whispered, "I don't love him anymore. That can't happen if we are mates."

In the blink of an eye, Bella was pushed behind Jake's back just as Alice let out an ear piercing shriek of horror and the two wolves at his sides tensed and crouched. Peeking around Jake's bulky bicep, she choked on her quick inhale at the view in front of her.

"No! You fucking whore! He's dead! He's dead because of you!" She screeched at Bella, pointing a claw like finger her way. "They just twisted his head right off before Jane torched him!" Angry sobs wrenched their way up Alice's throat as she stood there screaming in the street, yanking at her short black hair.

Sam and Embry were vibrating, waiting to see if they would need to shift as they tried to keep a clear head. Jared and the rest of the pack emerged from the trees slowly, only showing their heads to get a better view. They too crouched down, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Bella gasped and covered her lips with trembling hands. "What?" She asked, dumbfounded. "How!" She demanded more than asked. Tears formed in her eyes from the strong emotion of guilt she felt. "Oh poor Esme." She said in a strangled whisper. Louder, she said, "How could he be dead already!?" Alice had only shown up maybe an hour before. It definitely wouldn't have been enough time to stop him if he were all the way in Italy. Nothing made sense.

Another anguished scream filled the air as Alice leapt forward, her human visage completely gone as she leapt over Jake to reach for Bella, gnashing her teeth. Screaming, she scrambled back only to land on her ass and watch as her once friend headed straight for her as if she were flying. Venom spittle left her twisted lips as she snarled and clawed toward Bella even as Jake had ahold of the vampire's arms, keeping her back. Flanked by the rest of the wolves, Sam helped Bella up as Embry stood by Jake to help if he needed to.

"It's all your fault! If you hadn't cut your finger! If you hadn't moved to _Forks_ of all fucking places in the world! If you hadn't been his singer!" Each word she yelled became more menacing and threatening, deeper in her anger. "Let me go!" She screamed, thrashing against the restraining hands of the future alpha wolf.

Smirking even through his struggle to hold the angry being, Jake replied easily. "No can do, pix. You see, the way I see it is not one bit of this is Bella's fault." He let go of one arm as Embry came beside her and took it. "It's your fault. Your whole family's fault. You interred a human into your world. Let her _guess_ and then _confirmed_ it when she wondered about your species." Clicking his tongue disapprovingly, Jake chuckled. "And you're attacking her over Edtard's death. Isn't she somethin'?" He asked his pack rhetorically, ignoring the struggling vampire and easily dodging her tiny chomping teeth.

Paul and Jared phased to human with gleeful expressions on their faces while Sam looked on with stoic determination. Bella stood next to the intimidating alpha, pressing herself into his side for warmth and safety. She'd never seen Alice this angry before. She looked scary as hell. As Paul and Jared each grabbed a flailing designer clad leg, Embry and Jake lifted Alice up and they all collectively started walking toward the treeline. Her screams and screeches went ignored and Sam grunted by way of warning before lifting Bella up and carrying her toward the woods as well.

Wide eyed, heart hammering in her chest, she gasped. "What's going on?" She asked. Her mind was jumbled with everything happening.

Alice, freaking out. Edward, dead. The Cullens, she feared, would be out for revenge after learning their son was gone forever because of her.

"The treaty has been broken. The little Cullen must die." Sam's deep, authoritative voice brooked no argument but Bella squeaked in surprise.

"What!? You can't kill her! You stopped her. I'm not harmed! Look!" She exclaimed, stretching her arms out in front of herself and Sam as he carried her deeper into the forest behind the four wolves carrying Alice. Twisting her wrists to show her unblemished pale skin, she looked back up to Sam. She didn't understand why Alice needed to die when they'd kept her from getting hurt. Sure, she would probably be dead right now if they hadn't been there to stop Alice's tirade but then again if the wolves hadn't been there in the first place, she probably wouldn't have had a reason to get mad. He wasn't paying a lick of attention to her though, keeping his eyes focused on the vampire who was trying to escape certain death.

"Doesn't matter." He said shortly.

Bella watched as Paul and Jared let go of Alice's legs. Her heeled feet kicked out as she tried to make contact with their chins but she missed, growling. Jake motioned for Embry to let go of her arm and he held her hands behind her back. Gnashing her teeth toward Bella more, the human could tell that the vampire wasn't even looking at her. Her black eyes were vacant and though the wolves saw a threat, Bella knew better. She took a step toward her old friend. Sam growled and grabbed her arm but she glanced at him with wide, trusting eyes.

"She needs me. She's not even looking at me, Sam. She's sucked into a vision." Bella murmured. His fingers slipped away and she walked forward again but he didn't leave her side, unprepared to leave her exposed. Bella got as near to Alice as she dared, her eyes darting to Jake once. "What happened?" She asked, a confidence in her voice she didn't realize could reside there.

Snarling and drooling venom, it seemed as if Alice wouldn't answer her at first until suddenly, the small vampire went limp. Bella could feel the vestiges of Jasper's calming influence but didn't alert the wolves. She should have known her mate would be nearby and if he was helping, he wasn't a threat.

Still being restrained by Jake, Alice's whole demeanor shifted and she hunched in on herself, hanging her head. "He wasn't your mate." Alice whispered, almost too low for Bella to hear. "He was mine." A tiny sob ate its way through Alice's throat and Bella's eyes filled with tears.

Bella gasped, feeling confused. That meant Jasper wasn't _Alice's_ mate too.

Alice nodded as if she'd heard Bella's thoughts. "The visions." She whispered brokenly. "The visions had been coming for months since we left you. I thought with you out of the picture he would finally notice me." When she brought her eyes to meet Bella's, a startled noise left the human's lips. Alice was a broken, devastated vampire. "I was used goods." She said in a small, defeated voice. "He didn't want someone impure. He never wanted his own mate."

Bella fell to her knees in front of Alice as all of this information hit her at once. She felt used but she pushed that feeling aside. Alice was the one who had tried to make light of the worst situation, befriending the one female whom her own mate had decided to claim as his own. Staying with her companion, Jasper, instead of letting him go to find his own mate. Playing the sister to her brother in order to keep Edward happy. Instead, he got himself killed over someone who wasn't his mate, leaving poor Alice alone for good.

"You weren't supposed to cut your finger. And then when you did," she quietly explained, "Jasper was supposed to stop you. But Emmett made the snap decision to stop Jasper and Rose helped him. Edward shoved you and we all had to leave." Sighing deeply, Alice hung her head further until her chin touched her chest bone. "I really hate being a seer. I couldn't see anything very well, it was all jumbled up. Nothing was clear at all. I can see all the outcomes clearly now. None of them include me." She lifted her head to make eye contact with Bella. "Before they burn me, take my phone from my pocket along with my wallet. Tell my family what happened...All of it. If Jasper's with you, they'll know you're not lying because he will be able to feel it. Tell them I love…"

"I will, Alice." Bella whispered as the pixie vampire trailed off sorrowfully.

"It's not your fault." She said shakily.

Nodding, Bella stayed on her knees where she was as Embry and Sam moved to either side of Alice. "Wait!" She called, her hand outstretched toward her vampire friend, tears dripping down her face. "Isn't there some other way?" She asked.

Alice shook her head even as the wolves surrounding her did the same. Jake let her sink to her knees in front of Bella, keeping his large hands wrapped around her ice cold wrists. "I don't want there to be another way, Bella. Don't you see? I get to be with Edward. Even though he didn't want me in this life, I just have this _feeling_ that he's waiting for me now." She paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "It's amazing the things that have to happen in order for you to change your mind. I'm ready now." She breathed.

Bella covered her eyes and sobbed as she listened to the wolves work quickly, not allowing Alice to suffer anymore than she obviously already had. She felt the phone and wallet land beside her on the forest bracken but paid it no mind as she continued to mourn for her loss as well as her friend's loss. Through her gasping breath, she heard murmured words but didn't bother to look up as warm hands touched her in farewell until a chilled hand touched the back of her neck.

"Jasper!" She exclaimed when she met his honey colored eyes as he squatted in front of her with sorrow in his eyes.

Opening his arms, he gestured for her to come forward. "Come 'ere, darlin'." He said quietly. Without a thought, Bella dove into his arms and let him hug her, taking her pain away slowly.


	2. Why

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

Jasper held Bella for a good twenty minutes before she started feeling embarrassed and wiggled out of his lap. Standing up, she looked around and realized that while she was sobbing for her losses, the wolves had retreated.

"Where'd everyone go?" She asked.

The stench of Alice's burning embers remained in the air, hanging like a thick fog and Bella wrinkled her nose as more tears fell from her eyes unbidden. Jasper wiped them away before picking up his deceased companion's phone and wallet and pocketed them.

"They had to report back to their elders but Jake said he'd be back later to check on you. I promised to get you home safely." Jasper's mellifluous tones soothed her for reasons unknown. She followed him back out to the road where Carlisle's mercedes was still idling and watched from the yard as he quickly and expertly reversed it into the driveway, turning it off.

It was later than she figured it would be by the time they stepped into the kitchen, the morose atmosphere following them like a swarm of biting black flies. She knew she looked a blotchy, puffy mess but that didn't matter right now. Pouring herself a tall glass of milk, Bella sat at the kitchen table and sighed heavily while Jasper just watched her silently. His intense gaze bored into her and Bella kept her eyes off of the quiet vampire while her brain worked through everything she'd learned tonight.

Edward was never her mate, he was Alice's but he didn't want her.

Why?

Alice allowed herself to become friends with Bella, even knowing that she was an unaware accomplice in the tragedy that was her love life.

Why?

She wondered if all of the Cullens knew the dynamics of the three vampires they called family and if not...why? If so, was she just a pawn? A game to see if Edward could continue to thwart his own mate? Alice had claimed that she was impure. Was it simply a virginity thing for Edward or was it more than that? He had preferred Bella to be a docile little lamb, adhering to his demands and wishes, pinching the bridge of his nose if she pushed him in any fashion.

Jasper stood in the entryway of the kitchen, soaking up the myriad of emotions that swept through Bella. She sipped at her milk occasionally and let out little sighs of confusion. Figuring correctly that she wanted answers, he finally moved to sit in the chair that Charlie normally occupied across from her. Moving so quietly that Bella didn't notice he was across from her until she lifted her milk again, he chuckled when she jerked, causing some of the cool white liquid to spill over the lip of the glass. Throwing him a half-hearted glare, she pulled her dark green shirt down over her wrist to wipe up the mess on the table.

"You've got questions." He said as he leveled her with the same intense stare he'd been giving her since they entered the house.

Folding her hands on the table in front of her, Bella nodded. "I do. Do you want to bother with all of this tonight? I'm sure you've got better things to do." She tried to keep the waver from her voice but scowled at herself when it didn't happen.

Knowing she meant taking care of Alice and contacting the Cullens, Jasper just shook his head. There was nothing to do with Alice's ashes as the wind and damp ground will have already made them almost impossible to gather. The Cullens would be explained to Bella when she asked. Just as she opened her mouth to speak though, a knock sounded from the front door and Jasper's nostrils flared, alerting Bella to the person on the other side.

"Hey Jake." She greeted with a tight hug when she opened the door.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, wrinkling his nose at the scent of vampire all over her, he faked a grin. "Heya Bells. How are you holding up?" He asked, following her into the kitchen.

Jasper and Jake eyed each other as Bella poured the wolf a glass of milk and handed it to him with a quiet 'behave'. Jake snorted into the glass and then licked the milk mustache off of his lip, tilting the glass in thanks.

"I'm holding up fine. It's a lot to process though." She trailed off unsurely as her eyes swept between vampire and wolf. She sat down at the table and drank more of her own milk.

"You were going to ask me something?" Jasper prodded.

Bella nodded her head, thankful that he was still willing to speak even though they had company. "You and Alice weren't mates." She said.

Jasper waited a beat before realizing she meant that as an opener. "That wasn't a question."

Smiling slightly, Bella shook her head. "I know that." She raised her eyebrows and twirled her wrist, making an up-lilting hum sound.

Sitting back in the kitchen chair, looking for all the world as if he were relaxed, Jasper shook his own head. "No, we never were. Companions, best friends, and for a time, lovers. Not mates. She had had visions of her copper haired mate living with the Cullens but when we met up with the family, Edward hadn't been there. He'd been spending a few decades with the Denali clan simply because he was bored of the school routine.

"When Edward returned and he read our minds, he told Alice in no uncertain terms that he did not want a mate who had given herself to another. She had been devastated at first of course but with the family's help and reassurance that she could still live within the vicinity of her mate, she had been appeased." He finished matter of factly.

Bella gaped at Jasper's explanation. "That's insane. Why would he react that way? How…?" She wasn't even sure how to phrase that question but thankfully Jasper seemed to understand.

"Edward, as you must know, was born during Victorian times. Men courted women with the supervision of someone else. They weren't even allowed to kiss let alone be in a room alone together. Being seventeen at the time of his change didn't help matters at all. Vampires are unchanging, Bella. We stay the same inside and out. We learn everyday sure, our brains are ever-large, ever-expanding, but that's all. Our bodies, our ideals, our thoughts...They stay the same forever."

"So because of his Victorian values, he expected to find a mate that would be pure and innocent until marriage?" She asked, almost incredulously. It was a strange concept to her -living in the modern century, as it were- that Edward was so stuck in his ways. She supposed she should have known. He'd practically demanded that she not touch him and when they did kiss, they were barely pecks.

Jasper nodded before she was finished her question. "It didn't help that, like I said, he was changed at seventeen years old. He was barely an adult and still had such childlike views on the world, even though at that age in 1918, young men were going off to war and even engaged to be married."

"What a stick in the mud." Jake huffed as he slurped up the rest of the milk in his glass, setting it in the sink without rinsing it out.

An unexpected laugh rose into Bella's throat and erupted before she could stop it. She felt like a tool for laughing at the recently deceased. It shamed her and she ducked her head, a blush on her cheeks.

"None of that now, darlin'. Just because someone died doesn't mean you don't get to live. If something tickles your fancy, you go ahead and laugh. Jake here's a funny man. Laugh it up." Jasper encouraged with a slight twang to his words that Bella had never noticed before.

It could have very well been because Edward never wanted her around Jasper, citing that he had the least amount of control and could snap at the drop of a hat, killing her before she could blink. Or it could have been because the sound of that twang left a swirling heat in her gut that had her blush extending down her chest and up to her ears.

Shaking herself from her distracting thoughts, Bella trudged on with her questions, needing the answers. "Why did Alice want to be my friend so much if I was just taking away the reason for her existence?" She asked.

Jasper thought that was a funny way of wording a question and said as much to Bella.

"That's how Edward explained it to me once. That I was the reason for his existence." She ignored Jake's possessive growl. "Of course, that's also a lie considering he told me he didn't love me." She muttered, only slightly bitter. It was disheartening -to say the least- that her first ever boyfriend, who had told her over and over that he loved her, didn't. Maybe she just didn't know what love was.

It was Jasper who growled this time and Bella's eyes widened in shock. "You see, that's the second time you've mentioned that in as many hours. How about you tell me what he told you when he left, hmm?" Jasper asked calmly, though on the inside he was roiling.

Bella shivered and Jake moved closer to her, standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. She hates talking about that night and Jake didn't blame her. His strong presence lent her support and she told Jasper everything. How he had ignored her for two days in school before suddenly appearing in her yard on the third day. Demanding she go for a walk in the woods.

"He only had me go on a trail, I could see the house right from where I'd stood and knew something was wrong. It wasn't much of a walk." She sighed.

Jake's hands squeezed her shoulders rhythmically in an easy massage. Bella told him all of Edward's cruel words, about how she pleaded with him to let her go with them, stupidly thinking it was only Carlisle's age thing. How she denied that Jasper did anything wrong at all. Tears tracked down her face as she recalled the cold, calculating look on her boyfriend's face as he told her he didn't love her. Never did.

"And then he kissed my forehead and was gone. Poof. Like a puff of air. My dumb ass ran after him. _As if I could outrun him_." She mimicked bitterly. She was so lost in her own memories that she didn't realize Jasper was angry until the kitchen chair he'd been sitting in didn't exist. Splinters and vinyl from the seat were strewn over the linoleum, chunks of wood still held in the curl of Jasper's clenched fists as he growled angrily where he stood.

Squeaking in shock as Jake picked her up from her underarms, lifting her onto his back piggyback style, she stared at the damage the vampire had done to her dad's kitchen chair before she started laughing. It was hilarious to envisage Charlie getting home, expecting to eat breakfast in the morning only to realize there was nowhere for him to sit. It was even more hilarious to Bella that Jasper wrecked her dad's chair at all! She wasn't sure what had him so upset but the look on his face combined with the angry way he stood and chunks of splintered wood all around him definitely 'tickled her fancy'.

She tried to hide her giggling in the crook of Jake's neck, inhaling great big gulps of his earthy scent as she did so and Jake squirmed where he stood as her lips brushed against his skin with each gasping laugh. Her hands clutched to his shoulders as she continued to hide her face, trying to slow her hysterical amusement but each time she peeked up, she saw Jasper's sheepish shock and would fall over herself with laughter once again. Finally having enough of the torment, Jake slid Bella to the floor and turned to face her with concern.

"You okay there, Bells? Geez, I didn't think it was that funny." Jake said.

Shaking her head, Bella took a deep breath and blew it out slowly as finally, her amusement faded. The mess was already cleaned up and Bella eyed Jasper as he walked back into the kitchen from the back door.

"Thanks for cleaning that up." She offered, glad she didn't have to risk getting a splinter from searching for all the tiny pieces.

"I'm sorry I broke your chair." He said as he pulled a third from behind the table where it was propped against the wall. No one ever used that chair because they never had company.

Bella shrugged as she tried not to smile. "It's Charlie's, not mine."

"Great." Jasper said sarcastically. If Bella told him he was the one to kill the chair, he was sure to be on the Chief's bad side already. Pushing it aside for now, since there was nothing he could do about it anyway, he pushed on. "About Alice wanting to be your friend." He reminded her.

Bella sat back down in her unbroken chair and Jake hopped up onto the counter behind her. She knew he was only there to make sure she was okay and because there was a 'bloodsucker' in her house. One that she hadn't ever really conversed with before and though she knew in her heart that she was going to be okay, she was grateful for the added company. Losing Alice, even after not seeing her for months, was hard. She nodded for Jasper to continue.

"You know Alice. She's a force to be reckoned with. Always wants to be the center of attention." Bella smiled at that extremely apt description and Jasper smiled too. "The family wasn't enough for her, not really. That's why she always threw herself into the stock market or shopping. She loved dancing and chattering away about nothing. When she had the first vision of you." Here, Jasper trailed off and Bella wondered why.

He looked down at the table a moment, giving her the perfect opportunity to watch how the lighting reflected off of his honey golden hair. The silken strands fell in soft waves around his chiseled face and Bella wanted to touch it to see if it felt as soft as it looked.

A smile was on his face when he looked back up again and Bella squashed her oddly lustful feelings with a flush on her cheeks. "Her first vision of you should have been told to the whole family but…" Jasper seemed reluctant to continue, shooting not so sly glances at Jacob.

Holding up his hands in surrender, Jake slipped off the counter and chuckled. "I'm not dumb enough not to know when I'm not wanted." As Bella began to protest, also standing, he shushed her with a gentle smile. "It's okay, Bells. I just wanted to make sure you were alright and you are. Tick number 3 isn't going to drain you dry, I can tell," He paused to glare at him menacingly before smiling brightly again at Bella. "so I'll head out and get some shuteye. Call me tomorrow."

Walking him to the door, Bella hugged him and bid him goodnight before sliding the deadbolt into place. As she entered the kitchen with a yawn, Jasper stood as well.

"You go on to bed, darlin'. I'll be around tomorrow sometime so we can finish this conversation." He knew she would want to be fully awake for it and with the clock striking close to 11pm, he knew she was sleepy even without his empathic abilities.

"Sounds good, Jasper. Thanks for answering some of my questions tonight." She replied with another yawn.

Heading up the stairs after locking Jasper out, Bella fell into bed but her mind wouldn't stop working. What was the first vision Alice had of her? She still didn't understand why the little vampire would allow Bella to get so close to Edward or why the other Cullens seemed to be okay with it as well...Aside from Rosalie, of course. She also wondered, as her eyes slipped closed without her conscious knowledge, if the rest of the Cullens were in the vicinity. It was obvious that Alice's visions led her back to Forks and thus Jasper along with her, but where were the rest of them? Now that Alice and Edward were dead, would they return? Would they come after Bella with a vengeance?

A shiver swept down her spine as goose pimples pricked her skin with that thought. Victoria was enough of a problem, she didn't think she'd need four other vampires on her very fragile ass.


	3. It's just Jasper

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

The incessant knocking on her front door woke her up before 7am and Bella grumbled the whole way down the stairs. When she swung open the door, glaring at her visitor with a mop of tangles adorning her head, she was greeted with laughter. This made her scowl even deeper.

"What the heck do you want?" She snarled, though it came out more of a sleepy yawn than anything and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Jake's white grin blinded her as he handed her a to-go cup of coffee. "Come on, Bells. We're going to the beach."

Snatching the coffee from her now ex-best friend, Bella growled and slammed the door shut. Well, she tried to but the doofus with the big feet stuck said feet in the way and the door bounced back open. She barely had enough time to catch it before the knob went through the drywall.

"Ugh! Whatever. Come in." She mumbled as she dragged her feet up the staircase with Jake following behind.

Even with all of the events from the night before exhausting her, nightmares wracked her sleep, keeping her from resting easily. Setting the coffee on the desk in her room, she shuffled to the dresser and pulled out jeans and a long sleeved tee before shouldering past the happy wolf to the bathroom. Charlie had gotten home around 3 in the morning, apparently forgetting that he had a daughter for all the raucous he had made. She afforded him the same courtesy, slamming the bathroom door loudly before locking it. Hearing his snore stutter, Bella grinned, her mood lifting slightly.

Once she was dressed and her hair was a tad bit more presentable in a ponytail, she joined Jake in her bedroom and drank down almost half the cup he'd brought her.

Sitting on her bed to pull on her converse, she looked at the giant Quileute. "Why are we going to the beach today? I'm supposed to meet up with Jasper." She wanted answers and was hoping that Jasper was a bit less reluctant today.

"You can meet up with him later. He's been stalking your house all night so I'm sure he knows you've got plans with me now." He said as he looked out the window that Edward used to enter.

Scoffing, Bella rolled her eyes. "Too bad he couldn't give me some of that sleepy mojo he's got because I slept like crap." She breathed as she tied her laces. Jake tittered behind her. "Why was he stalking me?" She wondered as they walked downstairs again, Bella draining her cup and tossing it in the garbage as they entered the kitchen.

"Oh, I don't know. Does Victoria ring a bell?" He asked sarcastically. At Bella's gasp, he rushed to reassure her. "She hadn't been around for a few days but we caught him up to speed on her and he decided that he will take over Forks duty so that all of the wolves can put forth the necessary effort to catch her. He's also agreed that we can shift in town and not just on our land."

Relief flowed heavily through her veins as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and scribbled out a quick note to her dad. "I just don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Wolves, Bella. We're built for this, I told you that. And that vampire of yours out there? He was literally _made_ for this." His eyes widened as he heard something that Bella couldn't and he cleared his throat. "Sorry." He muttered.

She knew he had to be speaking to Jasper and she was doubly confused. Jasper was _made_ for _what_? And why did Jake apologize?

Shaking her head, she grabbed a coat and her keys by the door and locked it behind her once they were on the front stoop. "I'll get my answers one way or another, you two." She spoke in general to both Jake and Jasper, knowing the latter was close enough to eavesdrop still. She made a startled noise as the vampire appeared out of thin air at her left and made to smack him but Jake caught her hand, saving her from a broken bone.

Jasper smiled as he leaned against the door jamb. "You'll get your answers, Bella." He assured her.

Rolling her big brown eyes, she said, "I just said that." That caused both of the males to laugh at her and she turned to walk to her truck. "Let's go, Jake." She had a feeling Victoria was near, not missing the way Jake worded his sentence about her 'not' being near and that's why she was being carted off at 7:30 in the morning to La Push. "Keep Charlie safe, please?" She begged Jasper as she closed her truck door. His eyes widened slightly and she smirked wryly. "I'm not stupid."

After receiving only a solemn nod in agreeance, Bella backed out of the driveway and headed towards the reservation. She chewed on her lip as her eyes darted all around her, distracting her as she drove down the highway trying to keep an eye out for Victoria's flaming red hair.

"We got it covered, Bells. Don't worry so much." Jake said as he placed a soothing hand on her thigh.

Sighing deeply, Bella nodded. "It's hard though. I'm just a weak human. What am I supposed to do to defend myself against a vicious vampire?"

Jake growled. "You let the beings capable protect you. That's what you do."

Shrugging, she muttered an apology, more for pissing him off than her words. It was true though. She couldn't do anything to defend herself unless she was turned into a vampire. She wouldn't even care if she was a wolf, so long as she could protect herself somehow. It's not like she had a 'mate' to want to be like. She just wanted to be able to defend herself and her father from the beings out there that were no longer myths and fantasy. She wanted to be able to help her friends track down and destroy those same beings who were taking away innocent human lives. Would there ever be a time where she was strong enough? She doubted it.

Parking the truck in front of Billy's little red house, they emerged and headed across the street for First Beach. Jake's easygoing banter and friendly hand holding made Bella's mood a little brighter but it didn't stifle everything. Especially when he started drawing circles on her inner wrist. Pulling her hand away with an inward sigh, Bella stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets and kept pace beside him. They spent the day keeping her mind off of all things supernatural. Even the pack kept their distance and in the back of her mind, Bella wondered if that was because they were patrolling or because they were hunting. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know. Around lunchtime they headed back to Billy's and Bella made them some grilled cheese sandwiches while Jake found some warm pop in the makeshift garage.

By 3pm, Bella was tired of walking the pebbled beach and plopped down on a piece of old driftwood that had washed up on the shore close to a decade ago. Her father texted her and she smiled. "I gotta get going. Charlie wants to have dinner together and then I should probably meet up with Jasper." She said to Jake after she'd sat for about half an hour.

"No problem." He said easily as he walked her back to her truck. "I should check in with the pack anyway and see what's going on."

They had avoided talking about Victoria and the pack most of the day, which was a nice change but now the thoughts were back full force and Bella held in a shudder. She suddenly didn't want to drive the long road to Forks alone as an unsettling feeling landed in the pit of her stomach. Swallowing roughly, she pushed the feeling aside and gave Jake a quick hug. She would just have to drive as quick as possible and pray she would get home okay. Waving to Jake distractedly, Bella headed toward town and hopefully, to her father.

There wasn't a reason to believe that Jake wasn't following her from the side of the road, being as overprotective as he was about her. Or that Jasper himself was waiting on the other side of the treaty line to hop in her truck and keep her company. Those thoughts carried her through the streets of La Push and she felt safe. When she crossed the invisible boundary, however, her safe feeling vanished and she felt eyes on her. It raised the hair at the back of her neck and her fingers tightened on the steering wheel of her large truck. Pressing her foot harder on the gas pedal, she winced when she heard the engine groan, giving her no choice but to slow down. Heart pounding behind her rib cage, Bella tried to breathe through her panic. She tried to reassure herself that she was being ridiculous.

It was probably just Jasper. Or one of the wolves. Paul, maybe. He always set her teeth on edge, ever since she popped him in the mouth for getting in her face. She hadn't known what had come over her at the time but when he sneered and called her a leech lover, she'd lost her damn mind, slapping the large Quileute across the face. Blood vessels had exploded under the skin of her palm making it throb but she'd had no time to react with any pain because the next thing she knew, she was on her ass in the grassy mud, cowering under a six foot tall Clydesdale sized silver wolf. If Jake hadn't come racing from his bedroom window in Billy's house, phasing mid-jump into his own red pelted wolf to crouch protectively in front of her, she was sure she would be dead.

A flash of white on the right side of the road ripped her from her thoughts and her breath hitched so hard that she choked on saliva. Coughing, tears gathering in her eyes, she took one hand off the steering wheel to wipe them away and then cover her mouth.

"It's just Jasper." She whispered to herself, trying desperately to believe her own words. "It's just Jasper." It couldn't be Paul now that she'd seen the white. It was definitely a vampire that was following her truck. "Please let it just be Jasper."

Jake walked through the front door of Sam's house, greeted by the sensational scents of Emily's famous cherry pie and beef stew. After seeing Bella drive down his driveway and away from him, he turned on his heel and walked swiftly to his alpha's house. He rubbed his belly even as he gave his alpha's mate a kiss on the cheek in greeting. Her scarred face lit up with happiness at his greeting as it always did when one of her pack pups said hello this way. Emily loved spoiling her pups with food and drinks, keeping them fit and healthy to protect their tribe. When they showed their appreciation through hugs, kisses on her scarred cheek or verbally then it made her heart soar.

"Smells great, Em." He commented lightly as he grabbed a premade plate off the large butcher block countertop and sat at the matching butcher block twelve seater dining table. Emily and Sam's kitchen was larger than the rest of the house as she had to prepare food for the entire pack and give them someplace to enjoy it as well.

The large, top of the line, stainless steel appliances had put a dent in her credit line but she was slowly paying it off and definitely put the machinery to good use. Sam didn't particularly love the idea that Emily had a job at all, preferring to shower her in everything from love to money but she was from a working class home just like most of La Push and Neah Bay. Baking and cooking were her life and her way of life. It made her warm inside to know that her goodies were favored all over the Pacific Peninsula.

"Quit shoving your face full of food for a minute and enlighten us, oh future alpha." Paul smart-mouthed as he too, shoved his face full of Emily's good food.

Giving Paul a 'seafood' grin, to which the silver wolf mimed gagging over, Jake mumbled without swallowing. "Bella's off to Forks to meet up with Jasper. Embry and Seth are on patrol." He hadn't phased on his way over so he didn't know the latest but he wasn't worried.

Jasper had told Jake and Quil his story -in grave detail- last night as they staked out Bella's home. The Southern Warlord had been forcibly stolen and turned from the Civil War, where he'd been a Major in the Army for the South. His maker, Maria Robles, had turned him into a killing machine. Once she'd found out that he beheld the gift of pathokinesis, he quickly climbed the ranks within her war and he became her second in command. Jasper had spent over a century fighting, biting, killing, and torturing before his own second in command showed him that there was indeed a better way of life. He hadn't told Jake his 'brother's' name but Jake knew that if he ever met the bloodsucker, he would be putting in his thanks.

It felt odd to Jacob that he would be thanking a tick for saving another tick but the reality was, Jasper is a kind, compassionate man. He learned a lot from him the night before and felt very protective of the vampire now. He felt very protective of Bella too, just as Jasper did. He knew in his heart of hearts that they could both protect her precious life together.

Emily tossed Jake a paper towel as she giggled. "Wipe your mug, Black." Her smile would have been a mile wide if the scars marring her beautiful face hadn't lagged the left side.

Grinning wider to show Emily how good her food looked all chewed up and relishing in her girlish squeal, Jake wiped his face obediently and finished swallowing his mouthful.

"Where's the rest of the gang, anyway?" He asked. He hadn't been completely oblivious to the fact that only Paul and Emily were in the house but food had been first and foremost on his mind when he entered.

After receiving a stern look from Emily, Paul swallowed dramatically before answering. "Sam took the rest of them out for training. Should be back anytime, actually."

No sooner had the words left Paul's mouth, did the back screen door leading to the thick forest slam open. Seth, eyes wild and wide as saucers, barrelled into the kitchen from the living room with his heart pounding in his chest. Long, bloody scratches tore his flawless copper skin from his left shoulder over his torso to his right hip. Jake and Paul jumped up in the defensive, twisting to face the terrified young wolf as Emily screeched and pressed herself into the furthest wall of the kitchen by the fridge, her hands against her chest.

"You've gotta come quick! Come now!" Seth yelled brokenly with loud, ragged breaths. He stared at his future alpha and pack brother as they stared back at him in shock. Stepping forward quicker, he closed the space between him and Jake, grasping his shoulders with his dirty, bloody hands. "Now, Jake! It's Bella!"

As Paul tore through the back door, already stripping his shorts, phasing mid-jump off the back steps, Jake choked on his inhale as his own eyes widened wildly. Seth tugged on his black tee, practically ripping the fabric in his haste to pull the man he looked up to out the door. Jake tripped over his large feet as his brain failed to communicate with his body. All he kept thinking was, 'No, not Bella.' over and over again.

"Yes Bella! Come _on_ , Jacob!" Seth screamed in his face.

Fuck, he must have thought that out loud, he thought as his feet finally started working and he followed behind his packmate through the exitway and off the steps. Ripping the flimsy fabric from his body, Jake didn't wait to phase, jumping over Seth's sandy colored wolf as they tore off together through the trees. The pack mind erupted inside his as his paws slammed into the ground. All he could see was thick black plumes of smoke. All he could smell was the sickly sweet stench of death. All he could hear was a loud, rapid digitized beeping similar to that of the Emergency Broadcast System.

A pretty apt sound for this extreme situation, he thought as he galloped full speed toward Forks, where the rest of his pack awaited.

 _No, not Bella..._


	4. Ares

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Possible Gore**

 **My Victoria is _always_ Rachelle Lefevre because Bryce Dallas Howard is too cutesy and Victoria is a maniacal hardass. **

As the truck chugged along Route 101 toward Charlie's house, the feeling that she was being stalked never let up. Chill bumps scattered over the creamy pale of her skin, scratching at her henley but she was to scared to even take her hands off the wheel to rub at them. The white of vampire skin flashed in her rearview mirror this time and she gasped loudly, jumping in her seat.

"Please, let it be Jasper." She whispered again, her voice shaking with her terror.

Darting her eyes from each mirror to the sides of the road and back to the lane itself, Bella kept driving. Pushing her poor truck to almost 47 miles per hour, she was worried the engine would blow up and she'd be stranded. Maybe Jasper was the one tailing her. Maybe he was just making sure she made it to her father's safe and sound. Inhaling a deep, calming breath, Bella blew it out through puffed cheeks as her eyes scanned the treeline again.

She should have known that it wasn't Jasper.

As her eyes landed on the pavement in front of her vehicle, she screamed as she saw Victoria waiting for her. The tall, slender vampire stood with her legs shoulder width apart and her slim fingers wrapped around her hips. Red hair lay over her shoulders in tight curls that shimmered in the very weak afternoon sunlight. Her dirty mink shawl -once a transcendent white- was now stained brown and gray. Filthy, torn denim jeans fit her legs snugly, a little to short in the ankles, showing off her bare feet. A grin stretched across her flawless face as she watched the human try to react in time to _not_ hit the stone creature.

Both of Bella's feet slammed on the brake at the same time, bypassing the clutch altogether, forcing the rear of the truck to bounce and shake. The engine protested and whined as Bella clenched her teeth and tensed her arms for impact -something she shouldn't have done at all. Rubber screech marks led a trail to the tires of the truck all the way down the road as the old 1953 Chevy 3100 slammed into Victoria. The tension in the human's arms snapped as well as the bones at her shoulders when metal collided with marble and Victoria grinned wider as she watched almost in slow motion as the metal of the truck hugged her intimately. Glass shattered and spewed from the vehicle, landing over the human girl and the vampire alike, only the vampire didn't get cut. Smoke plumed from the dying engine immediately, engulfing Victoria in the putrid stench of burnt oil and transmission fluid. The rear of the pick-up lifted off of the pavement the same time a wolf howl could be heard. The vampire had downed one wolf on her mission, clawing his underbelly as she flew passed him. She knew she didn't have much time to savor this game.

Bella's head hit the steering wheel with enough force to black her out as well as break her nose with a sickening crunch. Every part of her exposed skin was sliced by hundreds of tiny shards of glass and her legs were trapped under the harsh, biting plastic of the dashboard. Blood poured from the wound as well as pooled in her arms under the skin from her scapula and humerus breaks and the vampire smiled wider. Brushing the truck's metal frame from her own, Victoria rounded the mangled vehicle to the driver's side. There was no way it was coming open willingly so she tore it off the hinges as if it were a piece of unwanted lettuce on her burger. The human girl lay limply against the steering wheel, her breath stuttering, arms at her sides and ever expanding as the blood pooled rapidly underneath the skin and Victoria knew she wasn't long for this world.

Closing her blood red eyes, ignoring the smells of gasoline fumes and the sounds of large paws pounding against the damp forest bracken, Victoria tilted her head back and breathed in the enticing scent of Bella's floral ambrosia. Her long hair fluttered in the breeze as she pointed her sharp nose to the sky, nostrils widening as she took in the scent of fresh blood. She wasn't worried about the wolves for they would not get to the crash site in time. Her gift of evasion tickled her skin and she decided that she'd had enough of the incessant games these mutts played, she would much prefer to play with her food in private now. Opening her now black-as-pitch eyes, Victoria eyed the leaking globulin as it caressed Bella's sickly pale skin. Her pallor was diminishing quickly and her eyes weren't fluttering anymore, her heart stuttering faster than her breath. Cursing, the wild vampire reached toward Bella's arm with her sharp fingers but just as she was about to seek purchase, she was wrenched backward.

With a cry reminiscent to a war call, Victoria roared loudly as she spun around to face the being who dared touch her. She gasped as she tried to move backwards, her eyes locked onto the furious onyx gaze of the God of War. Ares himself, covered in scars and exuding rage unlike anything she'd ever felt, stared into her soul. Her skin literally crawled with the thought of what this vampire could do to her if he so wished. Wild blonde waves billowed in the breeze, his face, like hers, covered in black soot from the smoke that encased them all. His red and black flannel shirt was torn at the chest, sleeves pushed up to his elbows, showcasing the strong tendons in his forearms.

" _Mine_!" Ares snarled as he snapped his hand forward, grasping Victoria around her neck. He would never let this woman escape him again now that he had her.

"She's mine, Ares, sir." Victoria's husky, trembling voice countered. "I've been hunting her for months. This human is mine." Her voice gained confidence as she spoke, knowing that even to the God of War, he would understand the importance of a kill.

"You're wrong, _Victoria_." Ares cooed in a deep, double entendre voice. He knew his features were so distorted in his anger that the vampire could not tell that his alter ego was Jasper. She had no clue that he was apart of the Cullen Clan and that he had been the one to destroy her precious James. He felt the need to enlighten her but he would have to do so quickly, for his mate was suffering in an agony parallel to the change and he needed to transition her as soon as possible. Not even the wolves would have the power to stop him in his mission. "I've had this human in my sights for over a year. She is my mate and you will not take her away from me." His voice deepened to a silken bass as he spoke, lulling the menacing female into a sense of complacency without even the use of his gift.

Furrowing her trim eyebrows, Victoria was confused. "N-no, sir. She was a pet of the Cullens…-" She started before Ares cut off her air supply. She didn't need it to breathe but she did need air to speak.

"Your precious James thought she was a pet too." He spat. Bringing her face closer to his, Ares growled low in his chest. "He died for his mistake too...Hunting what is _mine._ "

Letting up on his anger just a bit to soften the sharpness of his features, he let Jasper be revealed long enough for recognition to pass over Victoria's face and emotions.

She gasped as well as she could with his strong grip around her throat and tried to rear back, kicking him to try and dislodge him from her. Large booted feet pressed against her shins before he spun her around, pressing her back into his chest and keeping his tight grip on her neck. He wrapped one muscular leg around her thighs to hold her in place and brought his lips close to her neck. He was running out of time. The wolves hovered at the treeline and he made eye contact with the large black one, giving him his full attention.

"Get the human out but do not leave." He commanded in a voice so similar to the alpha tenor that Sam phased human before he knew what hit him. Confusion tenfold slammed into Ares and he chuckled darkly even as Victoria squirmed in his hold, whimpering. "Do not question me, boy. Do as I say. _Now_!"

Sam rushed forward through the now flaming smoke as Ares pulled Victoria further away from the vehicle. The alpha wolf carefully wrapped Bella up in his large muscular arms, cradling her like a newborn baby to his chest. His shock at what she looked like was felt throughout the wolfpack even though he wasn't phased. Her face was bruised, swollen, and crusted with blood, along with multiple tiny slices to her skin where the glass had nicked her. A usually thin nose was fat and pushed to the left. Her slim legs were limp and he worried they were both broken. He could hear that one of her lungs was not doing its job so he carefully laid her down a good fifty yards from the berm and straightened her blood bloated arms at her sides so that he could work. The agonizing noise of bone on bone shifting made his teeth itch but he leaned forward to give her breath anyway. Her heart protested against the added oxygen but Sam knew that if he let Bella die, he would have to deal with that frightening vampire.

Even the great, big, bad, alpha wolf didn't want to contend with a vampire who looked and sounded like Ares did.

Ares watched Sam carefully even as he meticulously and quickly tore Victoria apart, throwing her body parts onto the now flaming truck. Purple embers mixed with black soot as it billowed up into the sky and everyone -vampire and wolf- along with the surrounding towns of Forks and La Push heard the beginning of the fire sirens. Looking over the vehicle as it continued to burn, Ares nodded, appeased that everything here would confirm the death of his human mate. Walking swiftly and purposefully with supernatural speed, he kneeled next to Sam, ignoring the petulant growls of the adolescent wolves surrounding them. Looking over his mate, he growled and pushed Sam aside.

"Let me work." He leaned over and opened his mouth wide, letting the venom coat his sharp teeth.

"No! You cannot bite her. You'll be breaking the treaty, Cullen!" One of the wolves shouted before staring at Sam incredulously. "You're just going to let him bite her?" He cried.

Sam shot the boy a look that would melt metal. "Shut up, Embry. You'd rather her die!? This is his _mate_."

Embry's eyes widened almost comically but Ares paid him no more mind as he leaned forward and sliced into Bella's slowing carotid, pushing as much venom as he could into the artery. Sealing the wound shut with a quick flick of his tongue, he bit her upper inner thigh, pumping his venom straight into the femoral artery through her jeans and then tore the material to seal that wound as well. He was done in a matter of moments, prepared to lift his now changing mate into his arms when two more wolves barrelled into view.

The large, russet colored wolf bared its teeth and rumbled an earth shaking growl, lifting his muzzle to show his poison covered fangs. Ares could feel the suffocating mix of confusion and fury pouring off of the wolf and knew he hadn't a clue what had gone on here. The smaller sandy colored wolf panted at his side, small whines of pain and confusion emanating from him. Sam held up a staying hand to the wolf and Ares recognized him through his expressive eyes. Lifting a limp Bella in his arms, the Southern vampire stood tall and strong, speaking in the same double bass he'd used on the alpha.

"Jacob Black, future Chieftain of the Quileute tribe and future alpha of the newest Spirit Shapeshifters. My name is Ares, Warlord of the Southern Vampire Armies, also known as Jasper Whitlock. Bella was dying and now she's changing. You will not come after me. I saved my mate from certain death at the hands of Victoria, the red head vampire you've been chasing for months. Victoria is dead. Burning in that heap over there." He nodded his head behind him to the truck that still burned in the roadway.

Jake whined low in his throat and bowed forward on his legs, his eyes trained solely on Bella. Jasper pushed his way through Ares' visage, softening his vampire features, his eyes lightening to a burnt gold. In the background they could hear the firetrucks and the only police cruiser in the county getting closer to the scene.

"I'll leave you Alice's cell phone. My number is programmed already. Give me two days to get settled and her comfortable then call me. I'll explain anything you want to know and after she's transitioned and hunted, I'll let you know where we are. You can come visit her." Jasper spoke in soothing tones, pushing tranquility to the wolves who were still agitated from the scent of vengeful vampire.

The large wolf nodded but never took his eyes off of his changing best friend. Jasper could feel his heartbreak and his own clenched when he saw a thick tear roll down his red fur. Embry walked over to his friend and placed a supporting hand on his large shoulder blade.

"We need to go now." Sam intoned, motioning for the wolves to gather and head back to La Push.

"Here, Sam. Take this phone." Jasper said as he reached one hand into his pocket, barely jostling Bella, and pulled out Alice's cell phone. "Make sure Jake calls in two days."

The tall alpha nodded silently before turning on his heel and leading his pack into the forest just as the firetruck pulled up beside the inferno that used to be Bella's beloved truck. He didn't need to be a seer to know what was coming next and he clenched his eyes tightly shut as his heart lurched painfully in his chest. Pressing a kiss to his beloved darlin's temple, feeling it slowly lull to the side in her changing unconsciousness, he gathered her close to his chest and murmured sweet words of reassurance that he didn't feel. Charlie's police cruiser tires squealed against the asphalt and Jasper walked away in the opposite direction. He tried his best to stave off the tormented emotions and anguished screams of one Chief Charlie Swan, Bella's father.


	5. Mystification

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content, 18 and older only please**

Settled into his owned home deep in the Montana wilderness, Jasper laid prone next to Bella as her heartbeat raced against the venom. The sleepy mountain his house was built on is miles away from any civilisation. It's a modest one story ranch with simple, rustic furnishings. All he had to do once he placed her on his queen sized bed was lift the dust sheets and call the electric company. Not that as vampires they would need the electricity but it was an amenity that was convenient to have. The walls in the whole house are paneled tongue and groove oak, stained and clear glossed to show the beauty of the planed wood. The flooring throughout is thick, mismatched stone and the kitchen was stocked with the nicest appliances -again, not that as vampires they would need it. Sheer white curtains draped delicately over every window to let in light and all of the furniture was overstuffed and mismatched.

Bella had been completely unconscious through the entire transformation and he worried incessantly whether or not she was going to actually finish the change. His phone had been blowing up with messages and calls for the last two days, strangely enough, by everyone other than Jacob Black. Even knowing he needed to speak with the family, he really didn't want to. They knew what happened with both Alice and Edward -finding out about the latter before Jasper could contact them. Aro Volturi had taken it upon himself to boast about Carlisle's eldest son's transgressions. Apparently, Edward had exposed himself to the townspeople of Volterra, Italy by way of stripping his shirt in the sunlight during the Saint Marcus Festival. Jane and Demetri had snatched him back before anyone other than an innocent child could bear witness, but that was enough incentive for the rulers. Aro is not a lenient man.

Carlisle had also warned Jasper that because of reading Edward's thoughts through touch, the eldest ruler knew all about Bella Swan. He was also aware of Alice's troubles and the fact that Bella is the mate of the God of War. Jasper assured Carlisle when he had called to tell the family about Alice that Bella would be changed before the month was out. Carlisle had promised to pass the message on to Aro. Jasper had wanted to sit her down, let her finish her questioning, then slowly approach the subject he'd been the most shy about.

Mates.

Unfortunately, Victoria had other plans and now Bella was suffering the change unexpectedly and without all of the pertinent information.

As he lay beside his beautiful lady, carding his long fingers through her darkening mahogany hair, Jasper worried about her reaction to them being mates. Would she be angry that he kept it from her? That they all had kept it from her? He imagined she would because Bella, as timid and shy as she seems, has a fire in her that rivals that of most human females. She's stubborn and hardheaded like her father to a fault -which is why she ended up revolving within a coven of vampires in the first place. He wasn't even sure that a creature as delicately perfect as she would ever be able to love a man like him. His eyes took in every changing feature on her face; the straightening of her nose, the raised apples of her defined cheeks, the sharpness of her chin. No longer looking like a young eighteen year old child, his Bella has the looks more reminiscent of a twenty year old woman.

Her curves didn't differ too much aside from plumping and firming in just the right areas. Jasper wasn't even sure she would need to actually change cup sizes with her bras or that she would even need a bra after this at all. Shaking his head at himself and his lurid thoughts, he scowled to himself. He had too much to deal with right now to be thinking about anything sexual with the sure-to-be-angry Bella Swan. Not only is she considered dead to the human world, thanks to Victoria, but she is now a vampire and mated to the most dangerous and feared vampire on the earth.

She was sure to hate him.

His phone continued bothering him, kicking him out of his own mind, letting him know that real life awaits. Rolling his eyes, he took the latest call.

"You can't just ignore us and run off, Jasper! We're a fucking family and we need you right now." Rosalie's angry voice came down the line and Jasper let his eyes slide shut.

"Now's not the time, Rose." His voice sounded tired even to him.

He could hear the others murmuring in the background, pushing Rose to speak about what she called for in the first place. "Bella Swan is dead. Do you know anything about that?" She demanded roughly.

"Victoria got to her on her trip back from La Push." The words had barely left his mouth when the Cullen household was a flurry of activity. For a coven of now only four, they sure did make a lot of noise and though Jasper knew that by now, Bella could hear them with her freshly heightened hearing, she remained still as stone at his side.

Carlisle snatched the phone rather rudely from Rosalie and Jasper heard her growl at her sire. "Enough, Rose." The patriarch admonished. "Jasper, is Bella really dead?" His words were soft, compassionate.

Smiling slightly as he looked down upon his beauty, Jasper replied softly. "No. I got to her in time." Relaying the information, play by play to his family, Jasper let them know that they should stay away from Forks for a few decades at least. Esme wanted to check on Charlie but Rose assured her that sending him something from afar would be better than showing up at his door. Emmett was proud of the way Jasper or rather Ares had handled the situation, having only witnessed the God of War's wrath one time and he'd almost shit himself...The fact that he was a vampire mattered not.

"Just please don't come until I say. Things are going to be a bit hectic around here for a few months and I want to be able to speak to her about everything. Get her comfortable." Jasper asked of his family.

Carlisle agreed graciously. "Of course, son. Let us know when you think a good time is. I'm only glad that our newest daughter is safe with you. Please give her our love and our condolences."

By the time they rang off, Jasper's phone was practically dead but as he leaned over to charge it, he noticed a text message from Jake.

 _Send instructions when capable please._

The message pleased Jasper. It seemed the commanding voice of his alter ego had even his shapeshifting enemies obeying him. He wasn't a terrible man...anymore...but he did not like to be disobeyed. Had Jake decided to hunt them down instead of waiting then Jasper would not be so lenient with the entire clan of wolves. As it was, they listened and backed off, allowing him to change his mate and then leave the area unscathed. He owed them, though he hated owing anyone, but he owed them nonetheless.

A quick set of instructions later, telling Jacob and one other wolf to come at first, he powered down the small device and plugged it into the wall. He turned to wrap his arms around Bella's slim waist and just laid with her as he pulled the pain of the transition away from her emotions. It was odd to him that he could barely feel anything from her other than pain. The static that covered her emotions was thick and hard to penetrate so he didn't bother trying to analyze them, simply pulling the painful ones into himself. After a lifetime of pain in the Southern Wars, a few days was nothing to the hard, dangerous vampire and he would do anything to make this smoother for Bella.

The last day seemed to last forever and he moved from his spot on the bed over to the bedroom door. He didn't want to crowd her or give her a means of escape. Sure, she could go through the window or hell, even straight through the walls but he knew that as a newborn, her clearest route of escaping a scary looking creature like himself was the open doorway. Her heart stayed steadily fast throughout the whole of the last three days before it almost thunked in her chest, pounding sluggishly as if it needed convincing to keep going. When her heart finally gave out, Jasper breathed a sigh of relief.

Going through all of the typical newborn vampire ameliorations; testing the air with her tongue and scenting her surroundings with her heightened senses, she finally opened her eyes after a good twenty minutes of self exploration. Her stunning ruby eyes continued where her hearing and scenting failed, darting around the room watching the minute dust motes and taking in her surroundings. When those eyes, framed in this dark eyelashes, landed on him, Bella gasped and sat up on the bed crossing her legs. He felt her confusion and watched as she looked around and behind her exaggeratedly.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked.

Her voice. The sweetest of sounds that ever caressed his ears. The deep, husky alto that vibrates within his very soul had him willing his sudden erection away. Jasper was relieved that he'd chosen baggy clothes for her wake-up so his betraying appendage wouldn't be so very visible. Instead of her arousing voice, he focused on her actual question and cocked his head to the side.

"Darlin', they haven't been around for some time." He was unsure as to why she thought they would be here, though if they'd had it their way, they would have.

Making a small 'huh' noise, she looked down at her body then back up to him. "Wow, I've changed a bit." Standing, Bella fingered her hair and then smoothed her hands down her chest and abdomen. Jasper had to shut his eyes when her hands traveled over the small globes of her breasts. "Even these are bigger. Oops, I'm sorry, Jasper. Sorry. I can't contain my thoughts right now. It's a good thing Edward can't read my mind." Her voice was filled with amusement. "When will they return?"

There was only one thought that was running through Jasper's mind as he listened to the way she worded her sentence about Edward. That word was a heavily ire-laced _Shit_!

Bella knew she was in the throes of the change to vampire by the constant boiling heat that swept through her veins. There was no relief, no calm or crescendo, just a steady melt-your-face-off broil. As the days went by, she couldn't concentrate on anything that was going on around her. She had heard Jasper's voice a few times as he spoke to someone but she never heard an outward reply. She wondered why he was the only one with her. Where was the rest of the family, for surely they would want to be around for this, yes? Hell, even Rosalie would want to be present if only to berate Bella for becoming a bloodsucker in the first place. With that thought, her mind turned to Jake and the wolves. She wondered how they were doing and if they were going to go after the Cullens for breaking the treaty. She almost wondered at first whose venom flowed through her until she smelled the pleasant odor of Jasper's lemongrass and lavender.

She would have to show the wolves, for sure, that she was alright and planned to stick to the animal only diet. Bella prayed that it was that easy but she knew that it wouldn't be. Shoving those thoughts aside, not willing to explore the idea of hunting humans at all, she moved on to another part of her memory. Charlie. His strong, reassuring presence would always be something she cherished. His thick, dark brown hair, just a shade darker than hers. His steady gaze as he watched his daughter fondly when he was sure she wasn't looking. The way he called her 'Bells'. Burning his image into his mind, she wondered how he was going to take her veritable 'death'. She could imagine him screaming ' _no_ ' over and over in her mind and mentally shuddered as the sound literally echoed within her brain. The heartbreaking agony of that scream made her stomach roil and she shut that train of thought down as well, wondering how something simply from her imagination could seem so damn real.

Moving on to Renee, Bella made sure to remember every silly, beautiful quality of her mother. The way she fidgeted her hands against the opposing palms, the way she smiled at just about anything, the way she swept only the right side of her hair away from her face, and the sweet, calming way she called her daughter 'Bella, honey'.

The differing way her parents images made her feel had her slightly confused. Remembering Renee, she recalls only sweet, loving memories. With Charlie, she remembers pain, screams, heartbreak, but why!? Where was the gruff, loving, steady man who greeted her after work with a one armed hug and a quick kiss to the temple? The distress seemed to be making her burn hotter, if that were possible, so Bella shut them down and shoved them aside. There would be plenty of time for her to remember. She would have an eternity now.

Focusing on the sounds and smells around her, she was awed to feel someone's arm lying across her torso just under her breasts. The solid presence at her entire right side made her happy. She wished she could hum because the thick, corded muscle of this forearm felt amazing against her body. The heavy pressure was enough to reassure her that she wasn't alone, making her feel wanted and secure. She knew he wouldn't leave her alone if he could help it and she must be far enough along in the change for him to finally feel okay with touching her. Bella knew she wasn't as fragile as she had been only a few days before.

It was easy for her to tell how many days it had been because in the back of her mind, blocked out from her consciousness, she picked up the sounds of a ticking clock and her new vast brain calculated the passing hours and days without her permission. It was a handy thing, actually, to know that things like time wouldn't be hindered by the human thought process. Her brain was still thinking and moving without her immediate knowledge and yet she still _knew_ about it all. It was an odd sensation to know that she could _know_ without actually trying.

Something tried to wriggle to the forefront of her brain but Bella could taste that the thoughts would be unpleasant so she pushed them back, unwilling to taint her new eternity with terrible thoughts. She would be a vampire now with her new vampire family. There was nothing more in the world she could want, aside from continuing in the life of Charlie and Renee but that wasn't possible.

As she woke and tested the air around her, she realized she wasn't in the Cullen household in Forks, which made sense to her. They would have needed to bring her somewhere safer, more secluded. She could always find out where they were at a later time. A slight burn started itching in the back of her throat and she knew that meant she needed to hunt. When she opened her eyes and compartmentalized her absolute shock at the way she could see now, Bella spotted Jasper at the doorway to her right and sat up to greet him. As he spoke to her, she let his deep, tantalizing dulcet tones wash over her like melted caramel. He is covered in bite mark scars and she recalls seeing something like that while she was still human but they stand out more now. Somewhere in her brain she knows she should be afraid of this dangerous vampire but she cannot be. She simply knows that he will do everything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. After a brief question about the rest of the family and determining that the others must have been tying up loose ends or hunting, she let herself look at her body.

It was shocking to her how much her body had changed. Her hair, longer and darker with tones of red and platinum. Her skin, flawless and beautifully pale like all the other vampires she'd ever met. Her breasts, though they didn't get larger, seemed more plump and firm. Her nipples were sensitive to the slight touch of her palms as she raked her hands down the front of her body and it sent a zing of pleasure through her to which she shook off. She didn't need the empath feeling her lust when he was battling his own. He may be wearing baggy clothes in preparation for her hunt and subsequent first newborn day but she's not blind. Though she's not looking straight at it, Bella could see the obvious bulge underneath the dark gray sweatpants after she'd spoken. Her brain was continuing on the fast track so she didn't pay him much mind at first but now she finds it odd that he would get a boner staring at her.

Resting her hands on her hips, she apologized quickly for her lack of care for her privacy, giggling a little when she says it's a good thing Edward can't read her mind. The way his face closed down tells Bella that she shut down his lustful thoughts immediately and she walks closer to him, ready to get the itching burn out of her throat finally.

"Can we go for a hunt? Maybe they'll be back by the time we are." She suggested. Her skin was starting to crawl with the anxiety of knowing she needed to hunt as soon as possible. It made her feel jittery and she doesn't like that at all.

"Darlin', we've got to talk." He said quietly as his hand reached for hers. She jerked it back, pulling her blue long sleeved shirt down over her palms -all the while wondering why Alice let her finish the change in a shirt and jeans- and raised her eyebrows even as something niggled at the back of her head when he called her 'darlin''.

"Well, let's hunt and then you can tell me whatever it is when we get back." The burn was harder to shove away from her conscious mind than everything else and it was irritating her that he was stalling. "Do you know where I can find a hair tie?" She asked as she looked at the end table and then her wrists where she normally kept one for easy access. Her hair was down around her shoulders in silky waves and she wanted it out of the way for her hunt. She wanted to get this part of her newborn training over with so she could finally see the rest of the family. She was anxious to see what Edward thought of her transformation.

 **Thoughts?**


	6. Echoes of Despondency

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content, 18 and older only please**

Halfway through the hunt, showing Bella the ropes and consequently watching her down a couple of stags, Jasper was on pins and needles. She thought Edward and Alice were still alive. She thought the Cullens were still a big happy family. Everything she said along with her emotions told Jasper that his thoughts were right. She avoided him, avoided the lustful feelings inside herself until they disappeared, avoided getting too close to him. He knew she felt the mate bond but she was somehow pushing her feelings aside in order to appease herself. He wondered how she could simply ignore the mate bond. He also wondered why she thought Edward and Alice were still alive. There had to be a way he could find out but his mind was so jumbled at the moment that he was having a hard time concentrating. Between the worrying thoughts about Bella's frame of mind and the lust he felt at watching her hunt, he was struggling.

Killing his own doe, downing her with precision and ease, he came away with nary a drop of blood or hair on his clothes. He'd worn old baggy sweats in order to not ruin the few clothes he had with him because surely Bella would be a force to be reckoned with once she caught a whiff of blood. He should have known she would be different. Though she tensed and made a sloppy first kill, drenching more of herself than her throat in the hot, thick blood, she was fairly of conscious mind. She listened well and executed the hunt perfectly as a vampire was wont to do but she wasn't a crazed and snarling mess.

Bella's emotions showed Jasper that she was feeling anxious and excited. He was nervous to admit to himself why that was.

As they walked calmly toward each other, Jasper offered her a smile and held his hand out to which she ignored and walked side by side with him instead. He decided to test the waters.

"Let's talk about your transition. How'd it go?" He knew it was a stupid question but he didn't know where else to start. Perhaps this would help kickstart the conversation somehow.

Shooting him an odd look, Bella rolled her red eyes. "It was literal hell. Couldn't you feel it or was that not you with me?"

"Yes, I felt it. That was a stupid question. How are your memories?" Jasper nodded to himself. That was a much better segue into what he needed to know. More direct.

Bella's eyes lit up. "I can remember everything. I'm so happy about that. There's no missing gaps about my parents and I remember everything about the wolfpack and your family, even my school friends." She said excitedly with a big smile on her now angular face.

The pensive look on Jasper's face, however, wiped the smile from hers. "What? What is it that has you looking like that? Do you miss Alice?" She asked, more subdued.

Nodding, he responded quietly as they continued to walk through the lush, dry forest. "Yes but not in the way you think." At Bella's questioning eyebrow, he continued somewhat reluctantly. He already pieced together that her memories _were_ gapped. He just had to figure out from _when_. "Why don't you tell me the last thing you remember and we'll go from there."

Shrugging, her mind already whirring around with memories, Bella shoved at the unpleasant and chattered away. "My birthday party, of course. Alice threw me that horrible, overdone party and Edward dragged me there practically kicking and screaming but you all got me such lovely gifts. Esme and Carlisle got me round trip tickets to see my mom in Jacksonville, Florida and Rosalie got me a necklace. Emmett put that awesome sound system in my truck and Edward made me a cd of his compositions with his lullaby to me on it. Alice was handing me her gift from you two when I sliced my finger on the wrapping paper. You lunged -not that I'm mad or anything- and the next thing I know, I'm a vampire!" Her smile was a mile wide as if she wasn't missing almost six months of memories.

Jasper gaped at her a moment while Bella's mind continued to prod her with things she didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. Instead, she focused on the way the light shone through the coniferous trees and the lush forest thicket, glinting off rocks and leaves that lie on the ground. The animals and birds alike throughout the woods made pleasant background noises to their silent ascent up the mountain back toward the house. He was trying to figure out how to ease the newborn with a flood of information when Bella continued on.

"I have a feeling Edward's brooding though. Am I right? Is that why the family is gone? So that he can hunt and contain his sadness at my 'losing my soul'?" She questioned rapidly, her smile fading as her worries picked up.

Jasper couldn't resist the urge to wrap her in his arms, holding her close to his chest. She stiffened at first before a warm tingle worked its way over her sensitive skin and she relaxed into him.

"No fair with the mood control thing." She muttered contently as she rested her head against his shoulder and let her arms wrap around his waist.

He chuckled. "I'm not using my gift, darlin'."

"Why do you call me 'darlin''?" Bella asked, not moving from her position. For some reason she felt perfectly content in the cage of his arms, even as she felt guilty for hugging her best friend's mate. Justifying herself that he was a good friend -because _brother_ felt disgustingly wrong- she stayed where she was.

"There's so much we need to talk about." He whispered, his cool scent washing over the side of her face as he looked down at her beautiful features. Jasper dreaded bursting her bubble but knew it had to be done sooner than later. Jake was under instructions to show up in one day's time and he couldn't afford to let the wolf slip up. If he did, things could turn out bloody and disastrous.

Another distasteful thought skirted the edges of Bella's memories at his words and she shook them off as she pulled from his embrace. Though he tried to hold it back, a pained noise escaped his lips and Bella smiled sadly at him.

"You wanna go back to the house? Maybe the others will be there now." Bella said as she lifted her face to sniff for other vampire scents. She had no idea what she was doing however and could only scent the earthy smells of the forest around her. Scrunching up her nose, she turned to face her companion again. That word sent an idle memory through her brain about Alice being Jasper's companion and she furrowed her brows. "Are you and Alice mates?" She didn't know why she asked that but something told her the answer to that question.

Looking a bit shocked, Jasper shook his head. "No, we weren't."

Ignoring the way he worded his reply, Bella nodded. "I was sure someone told me that before, I just can't remember when. That's odd." She didn't like the feeling that something was missing. It was nice knowing she wasn't a typical vampire newborn. She wasn't feeling crazed and she remembered everything...Except when she learned that Alice and Jasper weren't mates. Another thing that was odd to her was the absolute feeling of happiness and _rightness_ that Jasper didn't belong to another.

The shocked look fell off his face and he sighed heavily, grabbing Bella's forearm gently and urging her to stop walking. "We really do need to talk, Bella. We can't put this off. It's important."

The double entendre leaked through his voice unintentionally and he winced at her widening eyes. She was listening though and that's what mattered.

"Do you want to sit down?" He asked.

Shrugging her slim shoulders, she shook her head. "What for? We don't feel the need to. I could stand here all day and feel fine, couldn't I?"

Tilting his own head in acquiescence, Jasper agreed. "Of course." He inhaled deeply, more for support that necessity and blew it out through puffed cheeks. "You recall your birthday party and then waking up as a vampire now, yes?" He checked. Once she nodded, he sighed heavily again. "You're missing about six months worth of memories, Bella."

Her brows furrowed over her nose further and she seemed to be racking her brain for the information she was missing. In reality, she was thinking he was speaking nonsense as she simultaneously shoved that pertinent information to the back of her mind. The constant nag of something she was missing was trying to poke through and she didn't want to deal with it at all.

"No, I'm not. I turned eighteen only a few days ago. You lunged and I fell. I must've hit my head because I don't remember anything until the fire of the change." Her voice was adamant as she willed herself to believe her own words.

Letting go of his firm grip around her arm, he smoothed his hand down to hers and linked their fingers. "This is going to be hard." He whispered more to himself than her.

"Then don't tell me." She whispered back, her voice pained. She just knew something bad was going to come from the information he was about to divulge.

"You need to hear this. If I don't tell you, you'll be angry with me. I'm not hiding anything from you and you deserve to know the whole truth." Jasper stressed adamantly. He was trying to take in as much of her distress as possible and it had him on edge.

"Do I really need to know? Can't we just pretend everything is okay and move on with our lives?" She almost pleaded.

"Boy do I wish that were true, darlin'."

Raising her eyebrows at his defeated tone, she leaned toward him eagerly. "So then let's do that! I'll have the option of the truth if need be but let's just keep me blissfully unaware, okay? Please?" She begged him. "I don't want to know if it's causing this much stress." Her hands dug into his arms but he didn't mind.

He rose to his full height and shook his head. "That's not possible." Trying to keep his inner Ares at bay in the face of his beautiful mate, he paused to take a deep breath through his nose. There wasn't a possible way for her to stay clueless when she expected to see the Cullens by the time they reached the house. "Nothing will ever be the same again. It will be _okay_ again and even lovely, I'm sure but darlin', everything's changed."

Gasping, Bella leaned away from him and let her hands fall to her sides limply. Another unpleasant memory skirted her mind and she shoved it roughly away. She didn't want to deal with bad memories.

"No, Jasper, please. Let's just go back to the house and wait for the family." She started to turn to run away from him and Jasper snarled quietly, grabbing her arm again and pulling her close.

"There's no one there. The family isn't coming until I tell them to. You need to listen to me, Bella." He spoke fast so that he could get the words out before she pulled from his hold, he released his frustration at the situation.

It hit her like a ton of bricks and she stilled in his arms, breathing in his calming scent. She didn't understand why his skin had such an effect on her but she allowed this small thing.

"Okay." She whispered as her red eyes met his darkening gold.

Giving her a sharp nod, he started. "After you cut your finger at the birthday party, Edward shoved you away and you landed in a pile of crystal plates that Alice had set up in the corner of the room. Your arm was slashed open and we all had to retreat because the bloodlust was overwhelming. Carlisle stitched you up and then Edward took you home." He only knew what happened next because she had explained it to him the night before Victoria found her. "Three days later, after avoiding you, Edward took you for a walk in the woods."

He could see her focus leave his face and knew she was recalling the scene. He heard her rapid intake of breath and then she started panting, trapped in her memories that seemed to be flooding back at a pace she hadn't been prepared to handle.

Jasper spoke in a fast vampire speed to explain to her what happened, trying to race her memories. He told her about the family leaving and her subsequent descent into depression -having learned of that through Jacob Black- and how she became friends with the pre-wolf. "That's how you know about the wolfpack. There had only been three before we left but after, when Victoria was dancing around and taunting them, the rest phased." He continued on, telling her what he knew about her ascent back into reality and how she eventually went cliff diving with Jake and his friends, which brought Alice to the forefront of his tale.

Everything hit Bella so hard as Jasper told her what happened. She watched it play out as he quickly recapped what she'd been so willing to shove to the wayside. She saw herself fall over the cliff and get dragged into the undertow before Jake realized she wasn't resurfacing. After giving her mouth to mouth, she inhaled for the first time in minutes and then Jake brought her to his house to warm up. They fell asleep and the next day when he brought her home, Alice had been waiting for her. She herded Bella into Carlisle's black mercedes before Jake tried to talk her out of leaving and remembered with an undesirable pain how Alice froze in a vision before lunging at her.

Edward was dead. He'd committed suicide by exposing himself to the humans in the town of the vampire rulers.

"No." She whispered brokenly. She recalled the wolves killing Alice after she pleaded for them to do so. She wanted to be with Edward. _Her mate_. Bella fell to her knees and Jasper knelt with her, holding her tightly.

The memories assaulted her mind and she remembered being coerced into walking the beach with Jake while the wolfpack hunted Victoria. He hadn't outright told her that the red head was in the area but he'd never been able to hide much from her. She'd been an unusually observant human. It was odd to her that after becoming a vampire, she had become especially obtuse, shoving the memories away so she didn't have to deal with them. Panting gasps left her open lips as she let the terrible images invade the forefront of her mind.

Leaving La Push to meet up with her father for dinner before planning to meet up with Jasper for more answers.

Victoria, standing in the roadway like an avenging devil.

The truck protesting loudly as she slammed on the brakes in order to unsuccessfully avoid slamming into the smiling marble creature.

Blackness as her head crashed into the solid, leather steering wheel.

 _N-no, sir_

 _Mine!_

 _Get the human_

Odd phrases and broken sentences came to her but she didn't know what they were from. The different voices were distorted echoes of an unconscious mind.

 _...breaking the treaty_

 _his mate!_

Tinny echoes of distant reassurances entered her thoughts as she recalled Jasper whispering in her ear. Screams of a tormented man floated on a breeze too far away to hear clearly. The weight of his arm across her torso as she lie completely still on a soft bed while the fire raged through her veins.

"Oh Jesus." She whispered as she buried her face into Jasper's solid chest. More whispered murmurs fell from his lips as he tried to reassure her that everything would be okay as the memories faded. She tearlessly sobbed for the memories. She sobbed for the deaths of Edward and Alice; sobbed for Charlie. She sobbed for the entire Cullen family and Jasper held her the whole time.


	7. Hot Garbage

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content, 18 and older only please**

Jake called shortly after Jasper forced her mind to remember. Remembering the pain of their abandonment, the losses of Edward and Alice. It was almost too much for her newborn mind to handle and though she stayed morose over the situation she'd been dealt, she had to admit to herself that she was excited to be able to see her best friend.

 _"How did I not remember all of this?" Came her squeaky, pain filled question as she looked up into Jasper's concerned irises._

 _Smoothing a strand of hair to the side of her face, he smiled wanly. "Sometimes our brains protect us from the malaise of remembering so that we don't stress our bodies with heartache."_

 _"My body would be fine. I'm a vampire now." She tried her best not to sneer the word but it was hard and by the look in Jasper's eyes she knew she'd been unsuccessful._

 _It was different for her when she thought Jasper or Carlisle or hell, even Edward had changed her. But to know that it was Victoria? The way she died, hearing her father's anguished screams as Jasper carried her away from the accident, it would haunt her forever._

 _"Your body may be impervious to destruction by your mind, darlin', but that doesn't mean your brain understands that yet. It will someday but you're called a newborn for a reason. Think of yourself as a walking, talking newborn baby. You're relearning_ everything _about your body and your life."_

 _Making a 'huh' sound, she cocked her head to the side, thoughts swirling in her head as she let them freely roam instead of pushing them aside. Her throat burned like a thousand suns had been stuffed inside her and she growled. Jasper smiled again as he watched her hand touch her neck and her eyes slip from burgundy to black._

 _"Follow me." He said fondly._ _She knew it was because her mind was bouncing from one thing to another, forcing him to feel all of her differing emotions. She felt like a damn spaz._

 _Bella followed him out of the house and down the mountain for another hunt. She was feeling so many different things in the moment that by the time she reached her meal, she tore it to shreds, pissing her off even more because she didn't actually drink. A few trees met their demise and Jasper watched in the angry glory that was his beautiful mate. He would approach that with her at another time, for he didn't need her trying to take her anger out on him. Chuckling to himself silently, he sat at the base of a tree and let her claim her woes on the forest and wildlife, admiring her from afar._

 _She couldn't help but feel impassioned about the way her brain protected itself. Or the way that knowing her first boyfriend had killed himself over her._ Over her! _Who does that!? She took her frustration out on the flora and fauna for a few hours while Jasper watched idly from his spot at the base of a large maple. She couldn't help but feel indignant when she thought of him. How dare he think they're mates. How dare he want to be around her and watch her with those gorgeous, tender ocher eyes. How dare he speak to her with such predilection._

 _How dare he make her feel..._

 _...the way he did. All of her fight drained from her when she realized that she felt the same way he did. As much as she wanted to spend months mourning Alice and Edward, the fact was that they were gone and she couldn't bring herself to be too sad about it. She was sad for the Cullens and she was definitely upset about it, but they'd been out of her life for 6 months before that which had caused her immense pain. Jasper inspired feelings that Bella had never experienced before and instead of pushing the thoughts away, she decided that she would try to embrace them._

 _Turning to face Jasper, she smiled, embarrassed. "Let's go home."_

After her breakdown, she took a shower and then had a tour of the house. The small ranch was beautiful and rustic, sitting on a peaceful mountain. She compartmentalized her emotions, allowing the realization that Edward and Alice were no longer of this world, but decided that she needed to put the thoughts from her head if she was going to have any sort of existence. She had felt like it was all her fault, though Jasper reassured her that it was just the way it was. No one was truly at fault.

A knock at the door alerted Bella to visitors and she jumped up with a happy squeak. Jasper chuckled at her before leaving the room. He had allowed Jake and one other wolf to come so she wasn't surprised to see Sam accompany her best friend.

"Who's watching the rez?" Bella asked as she opened the door and invited them into the house. A large black SUV sat in the driveway with rental plates, relieving her of her next question of how they got here.

"I've got Embry and Jared watching it but I don't think we'll have any trouble now that Victoria's dead." Sam said as he followed her deeper into the house.

Sam and Jake couldn't take their dark eyes off of the beauty that was now Bella Swan. She'd been pretty before but the young girl now resembled a gorgeous woman with long dark mahogany hair and petite curves. Her eyes, always doe-like and expressive, were a startling shade of red and when she noticed them staring, she smiled shyly.

"They'll change in a few months, he told me." She said, looking down at her toes. Jasper had retreated to another room so that she could greet her friends 'privately'. Though, with supernatural hearing there was no such thing.

Sitting down on a deep blue sectional sofa, the wolves got comfortable and Bella stood awkwardly for a moment in the middle of the room before Jake sighed and rolled his eyes, standing again.

"Can I hug you or what?" He asked, trying to keep his voice light but it was strained with his broken heart.

"Of course you can, Jake." Before the words had left her mouth completely, Jake's burning hot touch scorched her ice cold body and she gasped, inhaling his hot garbage stench. "Ew, you smell bad." She clenched out as she gently patted his tee covered shoulders.

Sam laughed from the sofa and waved a hand. "I'll stay over here. You don't smell too great yourself." He said as Jake let go of her and shoved her back in retaliation for her comment. He shook his head when she didn't budge.

"That's gonna take some getting used to." He muttered as he sat back down next to Sam.

"You don't think the Cullens will want any sort of revenge for killing Alice?" She asked with a tilt to her head as she settled in on the furthest seat of the sofa. With everything going on and her brain moving at speeds she was still trying to get used to, she hadn't thought to ask Jasper about them. She didn't want to think of the wolves being in any more danger.

Exchanging a look, the wolves both shook their heads at Bella. "No. She asked for death, remember?" Jake told her and she nodded.

"I've already spoken with them, darlin'. They're just waiting on your say-so to come here. They're not angry with you or the wolves at all." Jasper said as he appeared next to her side.

A shiver swept down her spine when his arm brushed hers as he settled in next to her. She also hadn't asked him about her odd feelings or the memories that had surged through her head. It was all a little surreal to her, honestly. Smiling slightly, she expressed her gratefulness to Jasper through his gift and he smiled back.

"Soon." She promised him. Though she was nervous of seeing the remaining Cullens again, she wanted to very badly. He nodded and turned his attention back to the wolves.

"How's everything on the homefront?" He asked them.

Both wolves straightened up before darting sad glances at Bella. Jake spoke in a solemn tone, his eyes expressing his sincerest apologies.

"The scene was cleaned up. Bella's wallet was left behind, proving it was her in the vehicle, along with lots of her DNA from the amount you bled." He said switching his eyes from Jasper to Bella. "Your dad was the one who got to the scene instead of Deputy Matt. He was supposed to be on a day off but he'd been driving to meet you at the diner when he got the call."

Bella's face crumpled in pain as her shoulders hunched forward. She could imagine him calling her cell to let her know he would be late to the diner only to realize she was the reason he would be late at all. A small, pained noise left her lips and Jasper wrapped an arm behind her back and pulled her into his side. "I remember the screams." She whispered sadly, ignoring the shocked looks from them all and strangled noise from Jake's mouth. "I remember bits and pieces of words that was said while I was out of it. My dad's screams are the last thing I can hear before the fire got me."

At the confused looks from Sam and Jake, Jasper reiterated. "The change. It feels like fire running through your veins."

"Jesus." Sam breathed as he ran a restless hand through his hair.

"He's not doing so well, Bells." Jake said softly as he stood from his seat and kneeled in front of his best friend. Grasping her chilly hands within his hot ones, he looked into her tormented eyes. "Billy's practically moved him onto the rez and Sue Clearwater is helping him out a lot but he's shutting himself down. We're not sure how much more he can take."

Jasper could practically feel the coercion and manipulation pouring off of the wolf. Even knowing he was just trying to help Bella's father wouldn't sway the God of War. He growled when he felt Bella's agony mix with determination. The two had formed such a close friend bond that it seemed even now Bella knew what Jake was getting at. He stared at the dog with hateful eyes.

"Do _not_ think that you can get her to say anything to Charlie. If he knows about vampires and the Volturi find out, she'll be the _first_ one they go after and she _won't_ be the last." He warned angrily.

Looking up into Jasper's face, she pressed a hand to his cheek. "There's got to be a way." She couldn't live with herself if Charlie killed himself over her death.

He shook his head with finality. "There is no way. If he learns of you and what you've become, you won't be the only one dead. He will be too and anyone he's around. You do not want that on your head. Let your father take the support he's got from Jake's family and let him move on."

A sob hitched in her throat and she swallowed it down. She knows he's right as much as she hates to admit it. She turned her sorrowful gaze back to Jake. "He can't know. Any of it."

Jake harbored a lot of guilt for the way Bella's life ended. If only he'd followed her home or offered to drive her there himself. If only he'd thought to ask Jasper to meet her at the treaty line. _Anything_ for her to still be human...Even if he knew now that it would've been a limited time only deal anyhow. Knowing that Jasper is Bella's mate was a jagged pill to swallow but at least he trusted the bloodsucker. He hated to speak ill of the dead, oh who was he kidding, Edward sucked. He hated that copper haired twat monkey with a passion and he was glad the brooding child was gone forever. The fact of the matter remained, however, that Charlie was drinking himself into an early grave. The station had given him an open-ended vacation in order to plan and execute a memorial for his only daughter and for grievance but it wouldn't last forever.

"What happens if he accidentally learns of the wolves, Bells? With him spending so much time on the reservation, he's bound to figure something out or see something he shouldn't see." Jake asked, ignoring Jasper purposefully so he wouldn't have to see his angry black eyes boring into him.

She shook her head with a finality to rival Jasper's. "You mean to tell me that everyone in the tribe knows about the wolves? That just because they hear the legends and suspect things they get to be in the know? Don't give me that, Jake." She said, growing angry as her newborn emotions overwhelmed her.

She felt as if Jake was pushing her to make a decision that would get her and her father -everyone she loved- killed. She didn't like feeling coerced and Jasper is right. There's no reason for Charlie to know she was still alive. Let him move on and get over it...As over it as a father can when his only child dies a terrible death.

Jake stood as if he couldn't sit still and raked his own hand through his hair before he rolled his eyes and sat back down next to Sam. So far his alpha had been quiet, observing how Bella and Jasper would react with Jake's proposal about introducing Charlie to the pack. He didn't agree with the decision either but had wanted to know what the vampire closest to the Chief thought. Jake's shoulders felt as if they would break under the tension he carried. She was right, not every person in the tribe knew about the wolves even after hearing the legends. They all knew there were suspicions but they did their best to cover them up, not announcing it to them to prove them right. They had a secret to keep just like the vampires did and as much as he wanted to keep Bella in his life, he knew that he couldn't tell Charlie a thing.

Sighing in defeat, he leaned back against the couch cushions. "You're right. I'm sorry."

The rest of their visit went well and by nightfall when the wolves left to take the rental car back to the airport, she was ready for her answers. Some of them had already been answered, like how did the Cullens feel about her now. Jasper had reassured her when the wolves were here that they weren't angry with her. Now she wanted to know more about the inner dynamics. She went searching for the wayward man and found him puttering around in the yard with a golf ball. She snorted a giggle when she saw him hunched over the club with a concentrated look on his face, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his tense lips. At her approach, he looked up and set the club off to the side of him against a small fence rail that lined the back property.

The vast rolling hills beyond the mountain they now lived atop were breathtaking and each time she came out to the backyard, it made her sigh happily. This time was no different. Jasper watched in rapture as she stepped up beside him and placed her delicate hands on the top rung of the fencing, her fantastical eyesight taking in every detail she could.

A few moments passed and he decided to break the content silence. "What's on your mind, darlin'?" He asked, standing close enough to feel her shirt brush against his. It wasn't nearly enough for him but they hadn't discussed the important things yet. He wanted to get those out of the way so that he could claim his mate. Despite how controlled she was as a newborn -minus her stilted mood swings- she was fighting the mate bond. He had to wonder if she was doing it on purpose or because she didn't know what it was she was fighting.

Sighing again, this time a little more strained, she leaned to the left, pressing her shoulder into his bicep and leaning her head against him. "I'm just curious about what we never finished talking about." She left the statement hanging in the air and Jasper grappled with the opportunity.

He was so anxious to have her accept him but he worried that his monstrous ways would turn her away. "How Alice could befriend you since you were Edward's girlfriend?" He asked and she nodded, her hair fluttering in the wind, sending a waft of her heavenly scent his way. Closing his eyes, Jasper breathed in deeply, enjoying her presence against him. "Her first vision of you was confusing. A blushing human stumbling into Edward's arms, him becoming infatuated with you. The second vision came right after the first. A stunning vampire hanging on my arm while I whispered words of love and affection." He stopped then, worried he'd said too much but she'd asked and she did need to know. When he felt her acceptance, he trucked on, eager to get this over with. "She wanted Edward to be happy, even though he didn't want to be her mate. Figuring she could make friends with you -which she was overly pleased to do by the way- she figured if Edward and she could live in the same house as friends instead of mates, then you and I could as well."

There wasn't even a pause for contemplation before Bella stiffened, anger coursing through her, though she didn't move away from him. "So she wasn't willing to let me know that you and I were mates? She was just going to let me go on thinking Edward was?"

Her anger was misplaced however, because when Jasper spoke again, she gained a new clarity. "No, darlin'. She was going to let you know before you became a vampire. She'd seen that vision too. You were going to be adamant about staying with Edward and agree to her idea. You were so in love with Edward -as we all know- that you couldn't see yourself loving anyone else, no matter who your mate was to be."

Bella sighed deeply after a few more minutes. "That sounds like me." She said reluctantly. "What changed then?"

"How do you mean?" He asked, wondering if she meant split second decisions or something else.

"She had that vision of me as a vampire and you telling me you loved me." She prompted.

"Ah, yes." Jasper said as he looked at the top of Bella's head fondly. She was snuggled up to his arm now, both hands wrapped around his bicep as if she were cold but he knew that wasn't the case. Her emotions were seeping contentment and joy. "You see, when you're changed into a vampire and you meet your mate, the bond is formed instantly. It's something that cannot be undone. Unless of course," he conceded, "your name is Edward. He pushed the bond away, letting his self righteousness guide him instead of the everlasting love of a mate."

"Hmm. So when I changed in this vision of hers, I felt it. What happened to Edward and Alice then?" She asked. Now she understood the reason very clearly why Edward was so adamant that she not change into a vampire. Had she stayed human, even with the knowledge that Jasper was her mate, she would have stayed with her copper haired Adonis.

It was Jasper's turn to sigh as he turned to embrace Bella fully, wrapping her in his arms and pressing her head to his chest. "I don't know. She never told me." He whispered. He had suspected that Alice wasn't in those visions, neither had Edward been, for reasons that had already played out.

"I've been pushing the bond away." She admitted quietly, coming to the same conclusion Jasper had about Alice and her visions.

Tightening his arms around her, he made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. "I know."

He was disappointed when she pulled away from him and stared up at him with bottomless, wide eyes. When she spoke, her voice was ernest and his disappointment melted away. "I don't want to push it away anymore."

 **So, I'm thinking a little citrus next chap? Whaddaya say, lovies? Leave a review!**


	8. Stimulated Relaxation

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content: _18 and older only please_**

 _"I don't want to push it away anymore."_

Those words tore through any scrap of control Jasper had been holding onto and he brought his hands up to her face, holding her in place. His lips descended onto hers in a heated, passionate connection and he groaned. Licking at the seam of her lips, he dove his tongue into her willing mouth when they parted for him. Her taste was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Honeysuckle and jasmine. Such a colorful set of scents tickled his taste buds and he groaned again. Bella's hands claimed his hair in tight fistfuls, pulling him closer, eager for him to kiss her more thoroughly. Happy to oblige, Jasper slanted his lips over hers as his fingers carded through her long hair behind her ears.

She couldn't get over how good it felt to kiss Jasper like this. She'd never kissed _anyone_ like this and it fanned a flame inside her belly as she pressed herself closer to his body. As his hands smoothed down the slender curves of her body, caressing her intimately, the noise that came out of Bella's mouth startled her and she stepped back quickly. Panting breaths left her unnecessarily as she watched his face crumple before he hid it behind a mask.

"Oh no!" She cried as she rushed forward to wrap herself around him again. "It's nothing you've done. I'm just embarrassed." She assured him, her embarrassment heightening tenfold.

Jasper shook with his chuckle and she hid her face in the crook of his shoulder as she smacked his back in admonishment. "Darlin', I promise you." He said as he placed his hands on her shoulders and moved her back, a wide grin splitting his handsome face. "There is not one thing you need to be embarrassed about around me. That noise you made was the single most erotic noise I've ever heard."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure." She coined using Jake's phrase. " _You've_ done this before. I haven't." She tried to contain her jealousy, really she did.

Chuckling became laughter, causing Bella to huff an annoyed breath. "I've never done this with _you_ , my mate. Everything is so much better, so much more heightened." He caressed the length of her arm with his palm and grasped her hand. Turning it over and pressing her open palm against the hard, damp ridge that lined the zipper of his jeans, he allowed her to feel the wet spot where pre-come had leaked from his straining tip. Her gasp had it twitching under her. "I've never had _that_ happen after just a kiss." He swore.

The flimsy panties that she had pulled on that morning were now ruined. Soaked with her aroused juices, she pressed her thighs together, not that it did anything for friction, and pulled her hand away from his throbbing member. His nostrils flared slightly at the scent of her desire and he growled low in his chest.

"Wow." She mumbled, still feeling embarrassed.

"Come 'ere, darlin'. Let's go inside." She could tell by the suggestive way he spoke that he had plans when they got in there and though her eyes widened with that deer-in-the-headlights look, she linked her fingers with his and let him pull her through the back door.

Bypassing the living room and going down a small hallway, he pushed open his bedroom door to reveal the same room where she'd completed her transition. The queen sized bed was pushed up to the window on the right side of the room with end stands on either side of it. On the left side of the spacious room was a small loveseat covered in plush pillows and a throw next to a closet. The rest of the room was fairly empty aside from some rustic pictures of the landscape that hung on the walls. Letting go of her hand, he retrieved a large metal and vinyl item from the closet, unfolding it to the right of the loveseat.

"A massage table?" She asked almost incredulously.

Laughing at her confused emotions, Jasper finished opening the table and locking the legs into place before laying a thick soft sheet over the vinyl covered padding. "Mhmm." He nodded as he turned to face her. Crooking a finger in her direction, he smiled when she came forward willingly and eagerly. "I'm going to give you a massage. It's a good way to get you to trust me with your body and also a way to arouse you. I won't lie to you, my endgame here is to fuck your brains out." He whispered seducingly. "But if you end up uncomfortable, I won't push you. I just want to relax you, okay?"

Bella chuckled unsurely, thankful she couldn't blush any longer. "Sure. I guess. I mean…" Fiddling with her fingers, her eyes darted from the massage bed back to Jasper. "I'm a virgin though." She blurted awkwardly.

Jasper swallowed his chuckle at her extreme embarrassment and cupped her face with his large hands. "I know that, darlin'. There's nothing to worry about. Do you trust me?"

Bella nodded without hesitation.

"Do you trust me with your body?"

The words 'fuck your brains out' flew through her mind and caused her to hesitate, her lips parted to answer.

"That right there is why I want to massage you. I'll take my time. I'll be easy." He stepped away from her and gathered some oils while also letting Bella gather her emotions. It didn't matter to him whether they were edible or not because as a vampire, he couldn't consume any of it safely and they would taste like latex no matter what. He chose only the most enticing scents, meant to relax the body and mind. Y-lang y-lang, lilac, sandalwood, and vanilla were the four he chose this time and he set them up on a small shelf that stood on the far wall, closest to the massage table.

Bella watched anxiously as Jasper set up his area meticulously, grabbing something else from the closet before he turned to face her once more. Too nervous to look anywhere but his eyes, she shifted from one foot to the other.

"I'll be right back, Bella. You change out of your clothes and drape this over your body once you've laid face down on the table." He directed as he handed her a thick, cream colored towel. "I'm going to change into something more comfortable and suitable for using staining oils."

Nodding absently, her mind stuck on changing into _nothing_ , she watched him leave the room. Shaking off her dazed expression, she set the towel onto the table and proceeded to pull off her shirt and jeans. Folding them neatly and placing them on the bed, she could hear Jasper's clothing as he too stripped. A tight flame coursed through her veins, the complete opposite feeling of the transition. This flame made her feel hot, aroused, anticipatory. Contemplating leaving her underwear on, she rolled her eyes at herself and quickly divested herself of the rest of her clothes, leaving her standing naked in the middle of the room. Glancing down at her body, Bella rubbed a flat hand down her toned stomach, admiring the flawless pale skin. The thought of Jasper seeing her like this had her nipples puckering and she leapt onto the massage table, lying down on her stomach and draping the towel over the length of her.

When Jasper entered the bedroom again, he was dressed in a pair of white cotton pants. That was it. Bella's cheek pressed firmly into the table as she watched him through hooded eyes and she stilled her body from the squirm it wanted to execute. Her eyes wandered over the long expanse of his toned torso, the dips and ridges of his abdomen and thin glaze of honey blonde hair that melted into the hem of his pants. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop her ogling. He chuckled when he saw her completely covered from neck to foot with the towel. Sidling up to her, he removed the towel, careful to keep it in the way of her body so he couldn't see her and folded it. Lying it over only her buttocks, he gave her a quick soft swat and chuckled again when she jumped.

"You ready, darlin'?" He asked and Bella noticed that his voice was slightly deeper than normal as if just being in her vicinity while she was so exposed turned him on.

The thought alone made her wet.

Clenching his teeth on his groan when he smelled her arousal, he twisted his torso around to reach for the oil, his cock already throbbing hard. The bottle had a pump head and he squirted some of the silky liquid into his palm before rubbing his hands together.

"I'm just going to start right here." He told her as he pressed his hands gently against her shoulder blades. "Do you want me to keep a running commentary or would you like complete silence?"

"Are those my only options?" She whispered, letting her eyes flutter closed easily this time as Jasper's impressive hands massaged oil over her shoulders.

Humming, Jasper took a moment to speak as his mind was focused on the way her skin moved under his palms. His own spine tingled as he spread the oil over hers. "I could turn on some music if you'd like." He offered quietly.

Deciding the silence was better than anything, Bella shook her head against the sheet on the table. "Quiet is best, I think." She murmured. She was sure she would combust if he pointed out all the places he was going to touch her though she wasn't sure the element of surprise would help with her tension.

Jasper's strong hands glided over the skin of her back smoothly before he started working on her arms. As he wrapped his hands around one arm and pulled firmly yet softly toward her wrist, letting the lubrication aide in his movements, a soft moan escaped Bella's lips. He felt a twinge of embarrassment waft from her but it eased away on its own quickly. Skipping over her rear, as much as he didn't want to, he started at her feet this time, working to thoroughly relax her tense muscles. Pushing his hands firmly up and over her muscular calves, behind her knees and up to her upper thighs, he heard another soft content noise and smiled.

She was enjoying it very much so.

Since she didn't want a commentary, he was almost hesitant to continue this way without letting her know but he also didn't want her to tense up further all over again. Squirting more oil into his hand, he spread it over the very tops of her thighs, his thumbs caressing the creases at the bottom of her rear. Mixed emotions swirled around Bella for a moment as his fingers dipped between her legs. He let just the very ends of his fingers graze the puffy sensitive lips of her pussy -as if on accident- before moving back to her thighs. Repeating that particular part of the massage a few more times, he was pleased to see that she was completely relaxed and slightly wet. Pressing a little more firmly when his fingers grazed her pussy lips, they parted to reveal a creamy, silky looking center that glistened with her juices.

A small gasp left her parted lips but she left her eyes closed and her arousal spiked. Raising the towel that draped over her ass, Jasper pushed his hands up over the luscious curve and massaged languidly. Her breathing picked up quietly and the smell of her lust increased. Tapping once on her shoulder delicately, she peeked up at him and he motioned for her to roll over. Embarrassment flowed over him from her and he stifled it a little with his gift.

"None of that now, darlin'." He assured her.

When she settled onto her back, the vinyl squeaking, he laid the towel over her most intimate area. The scent of her stimulation, now unmuffled by the table she lay upon, clouded his mind for a moment and when her unease became apparent, he focused his eyes and realized he'd been staring at her chest, unmoving.

"My apologies, ma'am. You just smell so good." He growled lowly and was pleased that she relaxed with a smile, closing her eyes once more.

She hummed in contentment as he started at her toes, working his way languorously up her legs toward the juncture of her thighs. However, instead of titillating her apex, he skipped over the towel completely and was extremely pleased to feel her disappointment. Squirting another handful of oil into his palm, he palpated her torso softly before massaging her sides and rib cage, letting his thumbs graze the sides of her breasts. The areolas of her full breasts were a puffy pink tipped with hard carmine buds. He wanted to lean forward and wrap his lips around those perfect distended mounds. Instead, he breathed in through his nose, savoring the scent of her. Working on her collarbone and chest next, he took his time, smoothing the lubrication over her. She was shiny and slick everywhere except one place. Hoping against hope that she couldn't mind, he started to gently massage her breasts. First, one at a time, careful to avoid her nipple and then the other, doing the same.

Her breath picked up even more, her chest rising and falling causing the firm mounds of her breasts to press into his palms every few seconds. When both of his hands covered her breasts completely, massaging the oil over her and letting his palms rake against her nipples, she moaned. This wasn't a soft, delicate moan. This was more wanton. His cock weeped just a little, throbbing in the confines of his loose cotton pants. Bringing his slickened hands down under her breasts, he pushed them back up to massage the underneath of them and then pressed his hands against her ribcage. Slowly smoothing his hands down her torso again, relishing in the clench of her abdomen as he neared his destination, his own breathing sped up. Aside from the heavy, panting breaths of them both, the only other noise in the room was the slight wet sound his lubricated hands made against her skin.

The towel was the only thing in the way of his mate's complete privacy. If nothing else was private in the vampire world, the juncture of a woman's thighs sure were unless they were willing to expose it. He proceeded with caution, moving even slower than he had when he lifted the towel from her ass. As his fingers slipped under the towel to massage her hips, he was pleased to watch them lift from the table slightly. A glance at her face confirmed that Bella was indeed in the throes of her passion. Her face contorted with her desire and her entire body seemed alight, humming with arousal. Completely relaxed with not one trace of embarrassment residing in her, her head was lolled to the left, eyes closed, lips parted. Her fingers nearest Jasper twitched and his cock bounced in anticipation of her touching him.

Continuing on his path, knowing she was now just as eager as he was, he shifted the towel down to her thighs and almost growled hungrily when he watched her other hand grasp the edge of the soft fabric and pull the towel away completely. It fell to the floor with a quiet 'swish'. Knowing his eyes were onyx, he licked his lips and leaned forward. His nostrils flared as he inhaled the stunning scent of her lustfulness through his body, sending tendrils of electricity thrumming through his veins. Though her legs were still resting together, he could clearly see the glistening nectar as it seeped from between her lower lips. Spreading more oil onto his hands, he rubbed them together before pressing his palms to the inside of her knees, pushing outward to part her slim legs. When her legs fell open and her pussy lips parted ever so slightly for him to get a beautiful peek of her core, the growl he'd been trying to contain, loudly erupted from his lips and Bella's eyes popped open.

They were just as black as his.


	9. All I Need

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content: _18 and older only please_**

Unable to help himself any longer, he leaned over her and took her mouth with his, bringing one hand up to cup her face lovingly as the middle finger of his other hand slipped between her slit. Bella moaned into the kiss passionately, bringing both hands up to grab at Jasper's hair. Pressing his chest into hers, he relished in the feel of her taut peaks rubbing tantalizingly across him and groaned. The vibrations send electric pulses of want through Bella's frame and she arched her back to press into him, her hips bucking against his intruding finger.

Ever so slowly, Jasper's single finger stroked sensually against the silky inner walls of her tight pussy, massaging her in a completely different way. Slipping his ring finger into her, widening her gently, he growled when Bella's nails dug into his shoulders while she clutched to him. Writhing underneath him, she pulled him on top of her easily. His fingers slipped from her, making her gasp, and she let a little whine escape her lips. Grinning into her mouth, Jasper pressed his muscular thigh between hers to give her some friction and almost came on the spot when her throbbing clit pulsed against him.

The massage table groaned under their combined weight but they ignored it as they moved together, letting their sensitive skins connect like never before. Jasper had never felt anything as amazing as this and he'd taken a few lovers in his century and a half of life. Knowing that Bella is a virgin and keeping it in mind were two different things and he had to remind himself to slow down constantly, eager to dive into her welcoming body and fuck her until she couldn't scream his name anymore. His lust projected from him, hitting her like a car to a brick wall and she lost her breath as the sensations became too much. The thin hairs on his thigh teasing her core, his hands caressing her body, his lips moving languidly against hers. She came with the force of a wrecking ball, clinging to her mate as she cried out his name.

Panting, Bella looked up at Jasper shyly. He hadn't even entered her yet and she felt sated, her body limp from the intense course of pleasure that ran through her. Grinning at her sensually, Jasper kissed her lips softly, then her chin before finding a path to her throat and down between the valley of her breasts. As he moved down her lithe body, his hands never stopping their caressing movements, Bella realized she was not sated. Not in the least. Letting her eyes flutter closed for a moment, she let the sensations of Jasper's body moving down hers consume her. She felt utterly relaxed as he kissed down her torso and massaged his hands down her sides. Even when his cool breath fanned over the warm center between her thighs and she moaned loudly, she felt no embarrassment.

Letting his tongue gently prod her swollen pussy lips, Jasper hummed when he got his first taste of her. With her legs hanging off the sides of the table, he grasped the outside of her thighs and tasted her again. It was Bella's turn to hum even as she arched her back and gently bucked her hips, silently asking for more. Her head was tossed back, reverent face pointed to the Gods, hands grasping at her own body; one splayed over the flat of her torso while the other gripped her breast tightly. Jasper kept his eyes on the beauty that was his mate as he pressed his lips to her clit and languidly licked between her lips. The silky softness felt amazing on his tongue and he moved his lips as if he were kissing the ones on her face. Soft, coarse hairs tickled his nose and he inhaled the thick scent of her arousal as he continued his ministrations. A thick, desire filled moan, erupted from Bella's mouth and she pinched her nipple, causing Jasper to growl in want. A serene smile crossed her face even with her eyes closed as the vibrations aided in her quest to climax.

"Jasper." She whispered needfully as she moved underneath him.

His cock pressed against the soft seam of the cotton pants and it wasn't enough. Lapping at her dripping core a few more times, loving the way she moaned and panted, he pulled away with a kiss to each of her inner thighs. He smiled at the sound of reluctance that came from her as he stood and pulled his pants off of himself. Opening her eyes, they widened when she saw the large appendage that he'd just unleashed. The bulbous mushroom tip was engorged and purple, leaking a creamy substance that she instinctively wanted to taste.

Wasting no time, even as Jasper rounded the table to capture her mouth in his, Bella grasped at his throbbing cock and ducked down after a quick kiss. Slipping down onto her knees, she spun and pushed her mate to sit on the table and engulfed him with her mouth. Vigorously, she licked and sucked, savoring the intense flavor of his arousal and hummed around him. He bucked into her mouth with a loud, shocked moan and slipped further into her silky depths, his tip touching the back of her throat. The feeling was definitely unlike any other and he had to grip the sides of the table to keep from fucking that hot little mouth. Unless of course…

"Bella." He gasped as he threw his head back and hummed in pleasure. "Darlin', I gotta move. Can I move?" He panted as his grip tightened on the flimsy metal under his fingers.

Glancing up at him from under thick lashes, Bella smiled as well as she could and let her lips loosen as she released him with a little pop. A thin web of venom saliva linked her to his cock and he pulsed in her hand, a new bead of pre-cum leaking from his slit. It caught her eye and she grinned wickedly as she licked only the bead, careful not to let her velvety tongue touch his cock at all, and moved back, letting the web grow between them. She had had no idea if she was doing anything right, only working on instinct but the more he hummed and groaned in that deep, desire-filled voice the more confident she got. Seeing him close to losing his mind gave her a sense of power that she never knew she could have, even being an indestructible vampire.

Unsure but also uncaring about where the confidence came from, she widened her wicked grin and spoke seductively, keeping her eyes on his from below him. "You want to fuck my mouth?" She asked quietly.

A growl resonated from within Jasper's chest and his hips bucked without his permission as he watched those cherry red lips form those absolutely filthy words. "Oh my God, _yes_."

"Or do you want my pussy?" She asked even quieter. Wrapping her hand tightly around the base of his cock, she flattened her tongue and licked him from base to tip, wrapping her lips around his head and sucking hard once before letting go. The action pulled a hard grunt from Jasper and she grinned. Gracefully standing, she sashayed her hips, surprised at her own lack of embarrassment.

How could she even begin to feel embarrassed when he was looking at her like that?

Hooded, black eyes that are framed by thick blonde lashes watched her every move, stroked her body with his intense gaze. Waltzing across the room, Bella bent forward and laid her hands on the footboard of the bed before glancing over her shoulder at Jasper's lustful growl. Pushing off the massage table, sending it across the floor a few feet in his eagerness, he stalked forward, admiring the way her skin, still slick from the massage, shined.

"Fuck, darlin'. You're so goddamn beautiful." He growled lowly as he came up behind her. He watched his hand gently rub over the curve of her ass as he pressed his chest to her back, bending himself over her from behind. "Are you sure you want me to take you for the first time like this?" He asked as he pressed the tip of his cock between her already clenching pussy lips.

Feeling her desire leak from her, slowly dripping a trail down her thigh, Bella pushed back. She gasped when his cock pressed into her slightly and was delighted that, though there was pressure and a stretch, there was no pain.

"Never will you feel pain again, my mate." He purred into her ear before tracing the shell with the tip of his smooth tongue.

Tossing her head back, allowing Jasper to fist her hair in his hand, she moaned. "Please take me. Just like this." Her words were mere whispers, soft spoken moans between panting breaths.

Needing no other confirmation between her words and her emotions, Jasper kept one hand in her hair as his other arm snaked around her ribs to grasp a breast roughly. He thrust forward carefully, letting his mate adjust to his size. Throaty groans left both their lips as heat flowed through their veins with their union. Easing his way out of her, he thrust into her slick core again, faster and faster until he was forced to let go of her hair and grasp her hipbone instead.

"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes." She chanted as his cock filled her to bursting.

His hand that was holding her breast slipped down her torso to stroke circles around her clit and she cried out passionately as her core squeezed him.

"Bella, Bella. You're mine. Oh God, you're mine." He growled with each thrust.

The sounds of their fast breathing and slapping skin was the only thing that could be heard as he continued to pound into her from behind until his balls tightened.

"I'm coming. I'm coming!" Bella cried as she threw her head back.

Jasper grasped the front of her neck and held her to him as he slanted his lips over hers and groaned loudly into her mouth when her pussy clenched and pulsed around him. She cried into his mouth even as her tongue pushed into his as her orgasm overtook her. His cock grew impossibly larger as his venom semen erupted within her and he threw his own head back momentarily to roar his release. Finding her mouth again, he hummed, feeling complete as he continued to move within her.

"Oh God." She panted into the kiss as he slowed his thrusts.

"Mhmm." He sighed with a smile.

A little while later, after a rousing hunt, as Bella stepped out of the shower, she grinned at the hand sized dents in the iron bed frame and in the side of the massage table. Her damp hair tumbled over her shoulders in soft waves as she pulled her jeans and a v-neck tee shirt on. Jasper wrapped his arms around her waist and twisted her around, holding her close as he captured her lips with his.

Humming lowly, she slanted her lips and pushed up on her toes, kissing him thoroughly. "Easy, tiger." She said with amusement as she broke the kiss and stepped away with a playful smile. "We've got calls to make."

Reminding him that he was bound to have a houseful soon was an immediate mood killer for Jasper and he groaned as if he were in pain over exaggeratedly. Whether they came in a month or a year, it would be too soon for them to interrupt the spell they had been under since they'd mated. It was like they were finally connected from the inside, a silver coated string that kept them together for always. As much as he missed his family and did want to see them, he wanted more time with his mate alone first. Bella giggled as she skipped out into the living room.

"Someone's in a better mood." He commented happily as he joined her on the couch and draped his arm over her shoulders.

Leaning her head on his shoulder with a goofy grin, she said, "Of course I am. I've mated with the sexiest man alive … or whatever … and now I get to plan to see my family again."

Jasper chuckled when she paused in her sentence and tried to dissipate the morose mood that was threatening to kill the atmosphere. He knew where her mind went when she said 'family' and he wasn't ready for that yet. Let the mood be killed when they were all together, not yet. There was no way he wanted them to visit for at least a month. The two of them needed time together, to build their relationship and to better prepare their minds for the intrusion of the Cullen Coven.

Using two fingers to tilt her chin up, he pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. "Keep your mind with me, darlin'. Don't let it get to you right now. There will be plenty of time to get your head around everything before they come." He advised quietly. He didn't want death and loss to cloud their mating.

Shaking herself out of her mind, she smiled sadly. "You're right." Cupping his face, she kissed him again. "I...I don't know if it's too early but I have to say it." She got up on her knees beside him and held his face. "I've fallen in love with you, Jasper." Her wide eyes were reverent and Jasper felt the emotion as she said it.

Grabbing her up into his arms, he held her tightly and stroked her hair down her back. "You love me." He whispered emotionally. He'd been so scared that she couldn't accept him but she had seen his scars. She hadn't been afraid, hell, he doubted she registered them as anything other than sexy. She'd kissed them and touched them lovingly.

She didn't think he was a monster.

"I love you too, darlin'." He sighed.

Bella chuckled lightly at his earnest tone. "Why are you so relieved?" She asked.

If he could blush, he would have been, feeling embarrassed for projecting the way he had. "It's hard for me to say this but I'm...I'm just glad that you don't think I'm a monster."

Scoffing, Bella kissed his nose. "You're nothing like a monster. I mean, we're vampires so I suppose we _are_ monsters but I love you no matter what. You are everything to me. Never a monster." She assured him.

Pulling her close once again, Jasper hugged her tightly, thankful for such a compassionate, beautiful, loving mate. He didn't think he'd done anything to deserve such an angel in his life but here she was. He is one lucky son of a bitch.

Sighing heavily, he kissed the top of her head. "Okay, let's call the family." His heart hurt a little as he thought of Alice, his best friend and how he would never get to see her again, hear her cute little laugh.

Bella touched his arm and kissed his chin knowingly and he silently chided himself for not containing his pathokinesis.

"It's okay to miss her." His worry melted immediately and he smiled at her relieved. She missed Edward, she missed Alice too. She understands that he lost so much more than she did and she's okay with him mourning his loss.

That simple statement right there filled Jasper with more warmth than he'd felt since he was human and he smiled widely as he hugged her again.


	10. We Meet Again

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

With her hair in soft curls falling down her back, held back by a red and white checked bow knot headband, Bella sat stiffly on the sectional as she waited impatiently for the Cullens to show up. Her white polo t-shirt and brand new dark denim jeans completed her look.

Jasper told her that she was trying too hard.

Her eyes had lightened to a bronze-gold color in the couple of months they'd been holed up in Montana and she was pleased with the color. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be to adhere and stick to the animal diet, though she figured it would be more difficult if she were migrating closer to towns...Which she had not done. She was nervous about testing her control -Jasper wanted her to start that next month- because she was adamant that she wasn't going to take a human life. If she never saw another human being again, so be it.

Jasper told her she was being silly.

As he walked into the living room from the shower, dressed easily in a pair of faded jeans and a v-neck dark blue tee, he chuckled at her posture.

"They will be here soon, darlin'. You should try to relax." He said as he plopped down next to her, making her cushion -and thus her- bounce a little.

Rolling her eyes at her mate, she said, "I can't relax, Jasper. You _say_ they're okay with me and they want to see me but how do you _know_ for sure? You're not there to test their emotions, you can't tell if they're lying to you over the phone."

"Have you ever known Carlisle to outright lie to anyone?" He asked her.

Turning a little to look at him, her shoulders still tense, she countered him. "I haven't known him as long as you."

He tilted his head with an acquiescing nod. "Fair enough. I haven't known him to tell a lie. Carlisle has never purposely deceived any of us for any reason. He assured me -and you I might add- over and over that they are excited to see you."

Muttering, Bella picked at invisible lint on her jeans. "Except Rosalie."

Cupping her face to bring her eyes to his, Jasper smiled fondly. "She hates the fact that you're a vampire…" He stopped at her scoff and fixed her with a stern glare. "But she knows that you didn't choose this. She knows that this isn't your fault."

Huffing, Bella kept her mouth shut and concentrated on watching a mosquito fly around the other side of the room. The tiny buzzing noise was driving her insane but she didn't want to move to squish it. Her nerves were shot and her muscles felt like they could freeze up from how stiffly she was sitting. If she moved, Jasper might think she's relaxing and welcoming when in fact she wants to be prepared for the rejection of her vampire family. Regardless of what he's told her, what _Carlisle himself_ has told her, she wasn't completely convinced the family felt the same way. What if Esme didn't think of her as a daughter? How could she if she abandoned Bella so easily? And Emmett? Maybe he was pissed off because she didn't get on that plane with Alice to at least _try_ to save Edward. Even knowing that they would have been too late, she could have at least tried but she'd let Jacob take up too much of her time and Alice's visions had been wonky. Perhaps the Cullens just couldn't forgive something of this magnitude. She wouldn't blame them if they couldn't.

Jasper told her she needed to relax.

Leaning closer to her, he grazed his nose along the shell of her ear. "You want me to give you a massage before they get here?" He asked, his voice a low, vibrating bass.

A shiver of lust swept down her spine as she remembered their first time over two months ago and her eyes slipping closed. As much as she would absolutely _love_ to take him up on his offer, she had to regretfully decline. The family had said they would be there around 3 and it was almost 2:30 now. She shook herself out of her lustful memories and was rewarded with Jasper's dark chocolate chuckle. Brushing a curled strand of hair from her front to her back, he let his fingers graze lovingly over her and she shivered again before glaring at him.

"Don't play dirty." She chided him.

"Oh I plan to get you very dirty." He whispered darkly, a seductive grin playing on his lips.

She bumped his shoulder with hers and giggled. "Stop it. They'll be here soon."

Jasper stood and held his hand out for Bella to take. "Sooner than you think. I can feel their emotions now so I know they're getting to the crossroads at the bottom of the mountain. You'll be able to hear them in a few seconds."

Timidly, she linked her fingers with his and let him pull her up. Sucking in a calming breath, she shook herself a little, loosening the muscles of her shoulders so they didn't sit so high on her neck from all the tension. It was unbelievable to her that as a vampire she could get so damn tense. Maybe it was just her imagination or her human memories of being stressed out but she was sure of one thing, she is a strange vampire. Moments later, she heard the telltale signs of a vehicle speeding up the side of the mountain. She was awed to know the sound of Emmett's Jeep clearly and it made her face break out into an award winning smile as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Even though she was so nervous to be near them again, she couldn't lie to herself and say she hadn't missed them.

"Easy there, darlin'. You're reminding me of someone right now." Jasper said almost shyly with a sheepish smile on his face.

Bella's smile widened as her eyes lit up. Harboring no jealousy for the relationship Jasper had had with Alice, she let her inner pixie out and squealed a little, causing her mate to chuckle happily and hug her.

"I can't help it!" She said in a high pitched, excited voice. The tremor belied her tension but she kept shoving it aside. She would definitely see for herself whether or not the Cullens truly blamed her for Edward and consequently, Alice's deaths. She pushed her nose into Jasper's shoulder and inhaled a deep breath of his lemongrass laced scent. Humming, she let it calm her and when she dropped back down from the balls of her feet, she felt more grounded. Smiling up at his beautiful ocher eyes, she kissed his chin. "I'm not feeling so nervous anymore." She admitted.

Jasper's face was lit up with her enthusiasm and he laughed lightly. "I'm glad. There's no need."

The large Jeep stopped a mere two feet from the porch, throwing up dust and gravel as it came to an abrupt halt and before the air cleared, Bella was being hauled up onto slim shoulders. She squealed in both surprise and delight because though she anticipated Emmett being the one to tackle her, she had been wrong. It didn't take away from her happy thrill though, to see Carlisle's golden blonde, perfectly coiffed hair glinting in the sun and she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. His black button down was rolled up to his elbows and tucked into his dark gray slacks. Even off duty, Dr. Cullen dressed dapper.

"Oh, my sweet girl. I've missed you so much." His voice was taut with emotion and Bella hugged him tighter before slipping down the front of him, never letting go of her hold.

"I missed you too!" She whispered fervidly.

Jasper was embraced by Esme, who smoothed his hair back and smiled at him in the way only a mother could, her eyes filled with venom tears. "My boy." She murmured.

"Missed you, Esme." He said quietly as he kissed her temple.

Rosalie, dressed to impress in skin tight jeans and a cream cashmere sweater, barrelled out of the Jeep and jumped onto Jasper, pulling an unwarranted growl from Bella's mouth. She ducked her head shyly as the Cullens laughed.

"Sorry. That was an accident." Her muttered words gained more laughter and she was surprised to be wrenched out of Carlisle's arms and hauled into Rosalie's slim grip. "Oomph!" Bella awkwardly patted Rosalie on the back even as the blonde hugged her tightly, humming a high pitched noise happily. She saw Emmett hovering ambiguously by the Jeep but before she could question it, a buzzing noise -not unlike the mosquito in the house- was screeching in her ear.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I'm so glad that bitch didn't kill you. I can't believe you're mated to Jasper! Who the fuck would'a thunk it!?" She raced the words from her lips so fast that even Bella's head almost spun and she choked on a laugh as Emmett and Jasper both said 'Alice' at the same time. It was true. Alice would'a thunked it for sure.

At the pixie's name, Bella became more subdued and shyly left Rosalie's embrace with a quiet, "Thank you, I missed you too." She felt inept next to the statuesque goddess and was confused at the vampire's change in demeanor towards her.

Touching Bella's shoulder carefully, as if the newborn would snap at her, Rosalie looked at her sympathetically. "It's okay to laugh and smile. It's okay to think about Alice and be happy. Just because she's gone doesn't mean you don't get…"

"To live." Bella nodded once as she straightened up and said the last two words the same time Rosalie did. When pale, trimmed eyebrows went up, Bella elaborated. "Jasper said that same thing to me a few months ago. And you're right. It's no honor at all to her or Edward if we stay sad all the time."

Esme took the chance to sweep Bella up, causing the brunette to squeal again in delight. "Esme!" She laughed. The flowery sundress she wore fluttered and twirled as Esme spun Bella around.

"Oh Bella, Bella, Bella!" Tearless sobs wracked Esme's small frame and Bella bit her lip to contain her own emotions as she hugged Esme as tightly as she was being embraced. Esme's hands fluttered over mahogany hair and down over slim shoulders as she whispered 'beautiful' to herself over and over. Mother hugged honorary daughter for many minutes before she was able to let go without feeling as if her newest family member was going to vanish into thin air. "I love you, Bella. I missed you so much. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry." She started before Bella hugged her again.

"It sucked so much to lose you guys that way but you're here now. I just hope…" She trailed off and lowered her eyes as pain weaved its way through her as she thought of what their opinions were of her now. Rosalie didn't seem to harbor any blame but what did Esme, Carlisle, or even Emmett think?

Large, sneakered feet walked up to her and Bella raised her head to meet Emmett's stern eyes. His wavy brown hair was in disarray as if he'd been running his fingers through it and it reminded her of Edward. His light blue polo shirt, very much like her white one, was tucked nicely into belted denims and clung to his muscular frame. She flinched, sure he was about to ream her a new asshole for letting his brother and sister die.

"You've got some explaining to do." His deep voice boomed through the yard and echoed off the large trees on the mountain.

Clenching her eyes shut, she winced at the barely contained ire in his voice and then jumped when Jasper came up beside her, placing a calming hand on her arm. Timidly looking up to her mate, she saw the sparkle in his eyes and felt a slight wave of amusement from him. Realization dawned in her head and her eyes darted to Emmett who was sporting a large, tooth displaying grin. Before she could react, he had her in his arms tossing her into the air like she was a pint sized toddler.

She squealed like one.

Giggling hysterically, Bella clung to him on her third descent to earth, wrapping her arms around his neck. Rosalie looked on warmly as her husband and mate greeted Bella with childlike enthusiasm as the rest of the Cullens chuckled and Jasper grinned widely. He knew they would accept her, wouldn't blame her for Edward's death. He had tried to tell her but she was a stubborn woman, moreso than she'd been when she was human. It was a quality he both admired and let frustrate him.

Getting set on her feet once again, Bella smiled up at him. "Missed you, Emmett." She said quietly but happily.

Flicking the tip of her nose, Emmett snickered when she scrunched it up. "Missed you too, Bells."

"Let's move this inside, shall we?" Carlisle suggested with a smile of his own as he wrapped his arm around the ribs of his mate.

Jasper nodded and grasped onto Bella similarly as Emmett did the same to Rosalie and they all settled into the living room. As they passed the threshold, Emmett smacked the buzzing bug, effectively killing the nuisance and the panel of oak it had landed on. Jasper rolled his eyes as he shoved his brother and Bella giggled. Esme awed and ooh'd over the decor of the house, praising her son for having such good taste. He'd let it slip his mind that his family had never been here. This had been one of the homes that he'd acquired before he had even met Alice and he'd had no need to come back here while he'd been living with them.

Tipping his head as if he were wearing a cowboy hat, Jasper smiled. "Thank you but I can't take all the credit. Miss Charlotte helped a lot."

Esme nodded as she sat down on a green plaid recliner next to a burnt orange round back chair that Carlisle had chosen. A modest brick fireplace was to their left at the back of the room, which the large blue sectional sat in front of. The flatscreen television sat cater-corner on a black entertainment stand to the right of the fireplace. The stand had a game console and some video games as well as a dvd player and some dvds. There was nothing too overly crowded about the furnishings and yet the place looked well loved and lived in. The rest of them sat on the sectional as Esme looked at the eclectic colors of the furniture. It oddly suited the oak paneled room instead of making it look tacky. Being an interior designer, she could see how the setup made company feel welcomed instead of like they had to stand still so as not to disturb the elegance, like in her own homes. As much as she liked the clean, white lines of her designs, she felt more at home here. It gave her a lot to process and she made a note to contact Charlotte Whitlock about ideas.

Bella's nerves came back full force as they all sat around silently, seemingly comfortably, because she knew what was coming next. She dreaded the talk about the demise of two of the Cullen's family members and her skin started trembling. Jasper smoothed a hand from her shoulder to her fingers and linked his with hers, squeezing gently once. Turning to face him, she welcomed the small amount of tranquility he waved at her and breathed deeply through her nose, her lips a tight line across her face.

Jasper told her, 'Ready or not, it was time.'


	11. Culmination

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

"She had problems with her visions for a few decades. Edward had suggested that perhaps it was because of the electroshock therapy she had endured while she was still human." Carlisle said, in explanation of Alice. He sat in the dark orange chair beside Esme and to Bella, it seemed too far from a mate but they kept their fingers linked.

The conversation was started by way of Jasper waving his hand toward his patriarch, giving him the floor.

"I thought she couldn't remember her time as a human?" Bella questioned. Alice was always saying she couldn't remember anything before she woke up as a vampire. It was her excuse for everything she did; the shopping, the way she danced everywhere and found happiness in just about everything. Life itself was all new to her.

Esme fielded this one with sad eyes. "Just before James was killed, he taunted Alice with words of her past. The name of the town she had been in was used and she searched for herself after...after we left you."

Patting the matriarch's knee softy, Bella smiled a little. She knew it would take time before Esme stopped berating herself for leaving. "What did she find? Electroshock therapy? Who does that!?" She asked.

"Back in the early 1900's it was a very common treatment for the mentally ill and disturbed." Carlisle fielded. "Alice found out, through rigorous search, that she had suffered from paranoia and 'visions' as a human. It had shocked and scared her parents so much that they'd deposited her into the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum when she was just 12 years old in 1914. The date of her death in the community of Howell was listed as the same date she was sent to the asylum." He paused when Bella gasped. "Her and I found mountains of handwritten paperwork on her time there. The most depressing thing was that she'd endured 6 years of it before the place was set on fire by James himself and he carried Alice away for a meal."

Bella sat in shock at the story presented to her, a myriad of emotions racing through her. She felt so terrible for little 12 year old Alice, being abandoned by her parents. The only thing that consoled her was that the little vampire had never recovered her memories of those times. "How did she become a vampire if James was intent on feeding from her?" Even when Bella had been the hunted back that first spring she'd moved to Forks, she could easily see the greedy gleam in James' eye when he set his sights on Alice.

Jasper squeezed her hand and smiled. "Turns out she had a guardian angel at the asylum the whole time which was another reason why James tracked her. A vampire was a doctor there, a psychiatric doc, like Carlisle here is a physician and surgeon. When James started feeding on her, Doctor Buck rescued her and carried her away, staying just ahead of the hunter long enough for her to turn. Unfortunately, James caught up with them the fourth day and Buck was killed while Alice ran."

"That's when her visions started? How she knew how to get to you?" Bella looked at Jasper then turned to Carlisle. "And to you?" Both males nodded and Bella flopped back into the sofa next to Jasper. "So Edward thinks that her visions were making her crazy or something?"

"Not exactly. We think she'd always _been_ crazy but tried to cover it up. She acted a certain way, adhered to human standards with her own delighted flare. Edward knew more than any of us what went on in her mind and he'd confided in both Jasper and I numerous times that her visions were odd, often wrong or distorted. We brushed him off." Carlisle hung his head in blame. "We shouldn't have brushed him off."

"They were mates. He would have known but why didn't he protect her? Talk to her?" Bella asked before realizing she probably shouldn't have. The troubled expressions on everyone's faces told her it wasn't the right question to ask. "Sorry."

Esme leaned forward to pat her knee this time. "No dear, we're sorry. You had to find out that not only had Edward died but that he was never your mate. That had to be so hard for you."

Bella swallowed a lump the size of Montana. She felt guilty because it didn't hurt her. It hadn't. She'd felt too much pain in the six months before that for it to ever _hit her_ that Edward was Alice's mate and not hers. That he'd died for _her_ when Alice had been right there and so easily accessible to him. He'd killed himself over someone so _not worth it_ , when his eternal mate had been more than willing to be by his side.

"Fuck." She whispered emotionally.

"What is it, Bella?" Rosalie asked, looking concerned.

Jasper rubbed his hand up and down her arm, soothingly. "You don't need to feel guilty, darlin'. Just speak whenever you're ready." He carefully eased her worthlessness and when she looked at him, he raised an eyebrow in silent reprimand. There was no reason for her to feel unworthy.

"What's there to feel guilty about?" Emmett asked, watching Bella carefully. "It's not like she killed Edward or Alice."

Scowling at her lap, Bella hissed through her teeth before she spoke with quiet anger, her hands trembling. "No. I just didn't feel any pain. I already knew Edward wasn't my mate. He left me. You all did. I had been filled with so much emptiness and pain for so long that when he died, I didn't feel anything."

Esme gasped while Rosalie looked shocked. Emmett growled quietly and Carlisle shushed him when Jasper stood. He grabbed Bella up by the arms and held her in front of him. He knew she'd been holding back some emotions from him about their deaths. Blaming herself. That was why she was so adamant that the Cullens would blame her. Because she blamed her.

"That is not true." Shooting a dark look at Emmett, he bared his teeth at him for growling at his vulnerable mate. "You fell to your knees, Bella. The pain that ripped your chest apart was almost too much for me to bear. It made me question whether we were actually true mates. Then you had to _watch_ as Alice begged for death! She begged to be with her mate. That tore you apart too so don't you shove it away and lie to us about it. It almost killed you." Each word seemed to be forcefully pulled from Jasper's clenched teeth. He was pissed at the whole situation. Pissed off that she lied to the Cullens because she wanted the blame on her.

Stubborn, stupid girl.

"I didn't _want_ to care! He _left_ me! How come he got blessed silence and I got to watch my _best friend_ get murdered?" She yelled with a growl rumbling in her chest. Her eyes were pitch black as she clutched to Jasper with fabric shredding fists. She pulled her hands toward herself and pressed them hard into his chest with a sob. "He killed himself for _me_! For some stupid, useless human he didn't even _love_. Why can't it be my fault? Why can't you let me take the blame?" She cried harder as she continued yelling her irrational questions.

Jasper didn't realize how hard she had been holding onto her feelings. He felt like he should have known but she'd somehow hidden them, shoved them aside and out of her mind so that she could cope. Even he didn't feel this terrible about Alice's death -which he was ashamed to admit out loud- and they'd been together for almost half a century. He held onto Bella, wrapping her up in his strong embrace as she cried for the loss of her first boyfriend. Her first love. Every emotion hit him square in the chest and he let it sink into him before he pushed it away and out the door, never to bother them again. Soothing her with a large, calm hand running over her silky curls, he shushed her at the shell of her ear.

For some time, no one said a word as Jasper soothed his aching mate. Everyone's eyes were black and keen on Bella. Esme's own chest throbbed with the pain of her deceased son as did Carlisle's. Emmett felt like a tool for growling at Bella but her words had hit close to home. He hadn't felt anything when Edward had died. Nothing but resentment. He felt his brother had taken the easy way out instead of fighting for his real mate. Yes, he loved Bella like a sister but she'd only been in his life a short time and then they left her. Alice was his mate and Emmett couldn't fathom how he could just ignore that and confess to love another. Rosalie was angry with Bella. All she wanted to was to be a human and have a dozen babies, yet here was Bella calling herself inconsequential and stupid. She may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed but she wasn't stupid. Naive, sure. Never stupid.

But she felt for the girl.

Not only had the Cullens brought her into their fold, welcomed her and treated her like family with glittering promises and loving declarations, they abandoned her. Dropped her like a dirty pair of underpants. For six months, Bella was broken before she finally started coming out of her hole only to end up in a mess between a werewolf and a vampire; only to have her whole world welcomed back, dumped upside down, then torn apart all over again. In a split second, Rosalie had Jasper out of Bella's arms and she took his place.

Bella reared back and gasped but Rosalie cupped her face with firm hands. "You were _never_ inconsequential. You were _never_ stupid. Regardless how I felt about you, you're my sister now and you will _not_ talk about my sister that way. You were human and had impossible situations thrown on your lap. You did the best you could. You dealt with them the best you could." She said passionately with narrowed eyes. "Do _not_ think you're to blame for any of it."

It had been Edward's fault for disregarding Alice, for getting involved with a human. It had also been his fault that he left. Not hers. She was human. She'd been bound to bleed at some point. It just sucked that she had to bleed in a houseful of vampires...Pun intended. She watched as Bella stared up at her with bottomless eyes.

"You really believe that, Rosalie?" Her voice was shaky and quiet, as if she was afraid to hear the answer.

Pressing a quick kiss to her nose, of which Bella crinkled, making Rosalie laugh, she said, "Of course I do. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't think it was true. Emmett feels the same way."

Bella looked like she didn't quite believe that, considering he'd just growled at her a few moments before. The large, burly vampire got up from his seat and ambled toward her with a sheepish expression. He wanted to tell her about his own lack of pain over Edward but he knew this wasn't the time or the place. Knuckling her chin with his fist, he gave her a half grin.

"We'll talk soon, kid. Just you and me, 'kay?"

Bella nodded and smiled unsurely up at the man she thought of as a brother. Carlisle and Esme stood as well and hugged her. "You're our family. We all make mistakes and we'll work on them together, sweetheart but I promise, we'll never abandon you again." The patriarch swore with sincere eyes while Esme nodded enthusiastically.

"Never think yourself to blame for Edward's actions. He was a grown man of one hundred three in the body of a seventeen year old. His mind was constantly at war with itself even while he heard the minds of everyone around him."

"Probably why he chose me." Bella muttered, wondering if he'd really loved her or just loved the silence of her mind and the scent of her blood.

Feeling her questioning emotions, Jasper hugged her when his parents released their holds. "You think he only chose you because of your mind?" He checked. He didn't want to out her if she didn't want to be outed. When she shrugged one shoulder and gave a half nod, he continued. "He loved you." As much as it pained him to admit but he'd loved Alice just as much. "As much as a mated man could love another, he did love you for you. Not for your singing blood and not for your guarded mind. Don't ever doubt that, okay darlin'?"

Bella sniffled even though her nasal passages would never get stuffy again and nodded.

"Good. Now, anything else heavy we wanna discuss because I think Lil' Miss here should go on a hunt." He announced loudly with a thickened southern accent and a burst of happiness spread throughout the room.

Wide grins appeared on everyone's faces and Rosalie linked her arm through Bella's. "Let's get you into some proper hunting clothes. We're going away for the weekend."

As she was tugged down the hallway, Bella looked back at her smiling mate then to the calendar on the wall. "But it's the middle of the week." She said cluelessly.

Rosalie's laugh was like bells. Bella didn't know what was so funny.


	12. Sempiternal

**Warnings:**

 **Rated M**

 **Mature Content: 18 and older only please!**

 **A/N: I want to thank each and every one of you who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. Every single alert delighted me. Here, we come to the end of our story. No, she isn't a shield (I made it so she's able to stifle her emotions or thoughts to the back of her own head without giving her a gift that's amazing) and no, they won't be 'marking' each other. Those two things are overused and overdone and -as I've learned- very expected. I try to keep the stories I write within the realm of possibility in the Twiverse yet slightly different as well. I believe I'll be working on She's Ours sequel next as the plot has been circling my head for quite some time now so be on the lookout. That's not to say I won't be posting other stories too. I still have a couple of requests to fill, so don't think I forgot about ya! ;-) Thanks so much again, duckies! You make my writing worth it.**

It turned out a 'weekend' to vampires was about 3 weeks and that was why Bella's befuddled question tickled Rose's fancy. About a week into the weekend hunting trip, Rosalie had practically demanded she call her Rose. They had bonded closely, all of them, but Rose and Bella had hit it off in such an unexpected way. The ice around Rosalie's heart melted a bit more when she took innocent, self blaming Bella under her wing and showed her how to have more confidence. Emmett made it his mission to help Bella get over her self flagellation. There was no reason for her to beat herself up over circumstances beyond her control.

They all begged for forgiveness over allowing her to think she was Edward's mate to which Bella responded with a frank and concise, "It wasn't your choice. It was Edward's and Alice's and I may not have known you very long or as well as they did, but I do know that if you'd interfered, it would have caused a rift between you all. Besides," She said with a shrug. "I was technically Edward's _chosen_ mate. That in and of itself should be remembered as an honor more than anything."

Though it still hurt the way he had left her in the woods with those harsh words, she knew now that they weren't true. That he was simply trying to protect her from Jasper draining her or any other unforseen vampirical mishap that could have happened at any time. The pain would ease someday but the honor of knowing the family regarded Edward's and Alice's wishes with respect even at the expense of Bella, would last an eternity. Rose told her she was too forgiving but that she, herself, felt privilaged to be on the recieving end of Bella's unfathomable generosity. The human turned vampire had always had such a charitable heart.

During their bonding time, Emmett also taught her how to defend herself. With Jasper's help of course. He even gave her a present. On their second week of the weekend, Jake showed up with Embry and Quil. A delighted squeal left Bella's lips as she tackled them all to the ground at once, her hair a wild mess of a halo around her head. The men had taken the beating good naturedly before standing in front of the Cullens with their heads hung low. They apologized for ending Alice's life and after allowing them to say their peace, Carlisle opened his arms and lifted his head. Anglican prayer poured from his lips as he praised the boys turned men turned wolves for their strength and wisdom.

"You have nothing to apologize for. A vampire who loses a mate goes crazy, seeking revenge or vengeance wherever it can be found. Take Victoria for example. She was never going to leave Bella alone. Alice would have found someone to blame and no one would have been safe from her wrath." He assured them.

"She was already blaming Bella and half crazy as it was. She begged you for death, gentlemen. Don't let it eat you up. We're not going to go to war." Jasper reiterated. He'd told Jake this before but he was humbly surprised to see the three werewolves giving their respects to the coven as a whole.

Tensions melted quickly and the wolves were their playful selves once again after learning the Cullen Coven really was as hospitable as Bella had been trying to tell them. It had been liberating to race through the trees and hills -six vampires with glittering skin and three wolves with shining fur- mischievously, nipping at ankes or hunting prey together. The pack certainly had new information on bloodsuckers, both good and bad. Good being that they now understood completely why Ephraim Black, Jake's great grandfather, had created the treaty himself so long ago. Bad, meaning for other vampires. The kind with red eyes that lurked through the Peninsula and preyed on innocent humans. With the pack mind they were able to see much more clearly how they moved while they hunted and though there weren't many, they found weaknesses and holes in their strengths. Sam, from La Push by Emily's side, watched carefully while Jake, Embry, and Quil, played with the vampires, looking for these weaknesses and relaying them to the rest of his pack for future fights with the unequivocal 'bad' vampires.

Bella had a riot of a time with her friends and it was a tearful goodbye on both ends, though hers would never fall again. Embry and Quil gave big bear hugs while the Cullens melted into the trees for privacy. Jasper stayed closest but he respected her need for this. It would be some time before she was able to see him again. Jake, whose muscles were tight with apprehension, gathered Bella into his arms, ignoring the burn in his nostrils as he gulped her scent. She still smelled the same to him under the cloying stench of bleach mixed with ammonia.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, Bells." He whispered into her hair, the long mahogany strands tickling his nose.

Swallowing a lump that lodged itself firmly in the center of her esophagus, Bella squeezed her best friend tightly. "I'll miss you too, Jake. Please." She begged. "Please, take care of Charlie." She knows it's easier if her father thinks she's dead and has no clue of the supernatural world but being alive...or whatever...yet not being able to see him or speak to him is going to take her a long damn time to come to grips with.

Making a noise that sounded like a cross between 'duh' and a scoff, Jake inhaled another gulp of her headache inducing scent before pulling away. He looked deeply into her oddly orange colored eyes. "I'll become a permanant fixture in his house if I've got to, don't worry about that. Your bed is comfy so that won't be too hard for me." He winked to make her smile. "He'll be protected like the honorary tribe member he is and we'll all make sure he's okay."

Bella sniffled and wiped at the tears futilely. "Thanks, Jake." She squeaked.

With one last lingering hug, Bella imprinted the scorch of his arms around her body and inhaled his nasty scent. She could barely make out the earthy, motor oil scents underneath hot, wet dog but she pushed away the bad and savored the good.

"Love you, Jake." She whispered to his back with her fingers raised in parting. The wind carried her words to his sensitive ears and he turned with a wide, tooth showing, sunny grin. The kind of grin he'd always reserved for her alone. Blowing her a kiss, he chuckled and said he loved her too before he phased wolf and ran after his packmates to go back home.

The third week of the weekend, the whole family was settled back in the house on the mountain, freshly showered and each doing their own things. Emmett taught Bella how to handle a gaming console controller while simultaneously beating her ass at every game they owned. Rosalie taught Bella how to play Chess with a vampire mind and was pleasantly surprised to see her win almost every round.

She always knew the girl wasn't stupid.

Esme showed Bella the art of planting the delicate flowers in the gardens outside without crushing their stems or roots and Carlisle taught her how to play golf without sending the small divoted ball into the next county. Turns out she holds her mouth the same way Jasper does when he plays. Huh.

It was fun learning how to do all these different things with her vampire body and mind. But at the end of a month, she was tired of sharing her mate and it didn't take long for the Cullens to take the not-so-subtle hints that she was dropping.

"Vampires don't yawn, Bells." Emmett teased when she'd stretched and 'yawned' for the hundredth time their last week with them.

"Take a damn hint then." She had snapped before staring at her lap, feeling bad.

Esme giggled behind her hand. "I think we've worn out our welcome."

The guilt amped up and Bella stood, racing to Esme. "Please don't think I don't want you around because I do but I just...I just…" She stuttered.

Smoothing her palm over her daughter's cheek, Esme smiled. "I know, sweet girl. We will see you again whenever you want."

Once plans were made to give each other a call soon, the Cullens left. Bella wasted no time in whisking Jasper to the bedroom, undressing him frantically. There was no protest from the southern man's lips, for he put them to better use. He ripped and tore at Bella's clothing just as fast until he was balls deep inside her tight core, groaning his enthusiasm. A carnal need seemed to take over Bella's body and she flipped them over on the bed, straddling his lean hips, plunging herself down onto him with a force that caused the frame to protest. Loud cries were pulled from their lips as they connected. Leaning forward to press her chest into his, she bucked her hips wildly, enamored with the sensations that coated her skin as he stretched her deliciously. His gaze was rapturous as his hands clung to her hips with a punishing grip while they moved loudly in a hedonic, lascivious dance. The sensitive tight buds of her breasts connected with his small nipples, sending white-hot electric pulses through their bodies, heightening the feelings they wrenched from each other.

With her lips languidly massaging the side of his throat and Jasper's hands moulding her flesh to his at her back, Bella murmured with a voice thick with her arousal. "You feel so good. Oh, Jasper. This feels so good." Her lust surrounded her like a thick cloud and Jasper let it sink into his skin as he let his black eyes slip closed, his lips and tongue moved over her quivering skin, covering any spot he could reach.

A guttural groan was his reply as his hands continued caressing her skin and their hips met almost frantically. Though they'd been able to make love with the family near, it hadn't been so freeing as this. Bella was too embarrassed to let go, knowing they would be heard. Panting breaths echoed through the room, small whimpers and moans met the sounds of skin slapping on skin. She felt amazing to his throbbing cock. The silky depths of her hot core, her tiny hands gripping his shoulders as she bucked her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust. He was unable to speak, reduced to the animalistic noises of their mating, lost to the phenomenon of which he was partaking.

As his balls tightened, hugging the base of his pulsing shaft, he gripped Bella with renewed force and a warning growl before tossing her onto her back. A cry was ripped from her lips as she passionately met his thrusts. Not missing a beat, she wrapped her legs around his and thrust her tongue into his mouth, tasting him thoroughly. The bestial way they mated sent her in a talespin, closing in on the edge of that cliff quickly. She could see the edge even as she gripped his blonde locks and raked her fingers through the tresses. Her moans wouldn't stop, she couldn't if she'd tried. Wantonly crying out for her mate as he thrust inside her core at a brutal pace, her hips rocked with his, slapping hard as their hands grappled to hold onto whatever they could.

Bella's lips fell open as she let out a salacious moan, her orgasm sending her into a cosmic bliss unlike anything she had ever experienced. Jasper's husky growl was sepulchral as he clung to his mate and released with a force he was shocked to feel.

"Oh my God that was amazing." Bella breathed as he collapsed on top of her with a raspy chuckle.

He was still trying to recover himself from emptying what seemed like every bit of his venom inside his mate. Letting his flaccid cock slip from her, he moved onto his knees and watched rapturously as his come slipped out of her tiny pussy. A languid smile played at Bella's lips as she watched him watch her. His fingers lightly traced over her soft curls before spreading to trace down either pussy lip, his onyx eyes locked on her with exaltation. Pressing the tips of his fingers on either side of her entrance, he licked his lips as he was able to coax more of his come to drip out of her.

"Never figured you for a creampie lover." She murmured blissfully, the smile lingering on her lips.

"I just like watching the way I've marked you. Both here," He poked again at her core's entrance, pulling a moan from her lips. "and here." He said as his other hand reached up and grazed her chest where her stone heart lay inside.

Bella hummed, filled with nirvana the way he looked at her. She felt the same way and focused her emotions on the jubilation that lined the love she harbored for this amazing man. He did have her heart, just as she had his. Jasper leaned over her and pressed his lips to hers firmly, tracing her lips with his tongue before she opened to him, moaning at the taste. She pulled him to her, laying his body against hers in the age old dance and wrapped her legs around him. Using her heels on his ass to pull his freshly hardened member into her body, she released a long, throaty noise of approval. Whispering words of abiding devotion and smoothly connecting, they made slow, passionate love. The complete opposite of the carnal lust they'd imbibed moments ago, but definitely no less.

Never less.

 _ **Fin.**_


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